Homestay
by Ooshka
Summary: AH/OOC Set in New Zealand. Eric is a consultant sent to work on a project, Sookie is the contractor they hire to provide the data he needs. Can the pair of them overcome their histories and make it work?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is my first attempt at writing something, so I hope it's turned out OK (it's completely un-beta'd). I've been enjoying all the AH stories where people take Eric and Sookie back to places they know and I thought, why not New Zealand? We miss out on a lot down here (seriously, we weren't allowed an Ikea because it might cause too much traffic chaos), so I thought surely we could have Eric for just a little while?**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. All belong to Charlaine Harris. I just sent them to the Southern Hemisphere.**

SPOV

I wondered what the time was, and if I was running late. Squinting I couldn't make out the numbers on my watch which was currently balanced on the shelf above the bathroom vanity.

The tiny ensuite bathroom, one that had been carved out of part of the old laundry, was feeling even tinier due to the fact there were three of us in here. I was rapidly trying to finish my shower before all hell broke loose, Felicia was balanced in her bouncinette throwing rattles and squealing and Amelia was perched on the toilet playing teachers and encouraging her imaginary class to sit down. Sometimes it would be nice to shower alone, but those days were long gone.

As I stepped out of the shower and finally managed to see the time on my watch (still only 7am, I was doing OK for time), Amelia broke out of her game and said "Mummy". "Yes" I answered, automatically.

"Will we have to stay at Nana's all day today?"

"Yes you will." I replied. "And you need to be really really really good for her. And eat whatever you're given. And do what you're told. "

"OK" said the small voice. "Do you think she'll play tea parties with me?"

I had no idea on that front. The woman was a mystery to me most of the time. "I'm sure she will" I said.

By a little after 7.30 am we were all in the car driving to Mt Albert. Luckily there wasn't a lot of traffic yet and we were sort of going across the city anyway, rather than trying to make it all the way into town with everyone else, Auckland traffic was not pleasant at the best of times.

I parked in front of a block of brick and tile flats and turned around to give one last set of instructions to Amelia. "Please be good for Nana. No yelling, no tantrums, no demands." Amelia simply nodded and looked at me like I was making all that stuff up, as if she'd never do any of that. She was 3 going on 16 sometimes.

I let Amelia out of the car and she ran up the path yelling "Nana". The door opened just as I staggered up the three front steps carrying Felicia, Amelia's backpack, Felicia's nappy bag, an extra bag of toys and my handbag. I walked in and plonked it all down then went back to the car to retrieve the pushchair. By the time I got back I could hear Amelia in the kitchen, excitedly talking her Nana's ear off. Poor Felicia had been abandoned on the living room floor. Luckily she wasn't the earliest crawler in the world and at 8 months was still contented to sit there, although I did remove Amelia's shoe from her hand before that ended up in her mouth, and replaced it with her favourite pink teddy bear.

Amelia appeared clutching two biscuits and I reminded myself I wasn't going to worry about what she was going to eat today. The whole point of grandparents was to spoil the kids wasn't it? And Amelia only had one Nana, so her opportunities to be spoiled were limited.

"OK." I said "Felicia's food, bottles and spare clothes are in her bag. She can sleep in the pushchair – just put her down at 9am and midday, and maybe at 4pm if she seems tired still. Amelia's brought some toys with her and should eat pretty much anything for lunch. If you need me ring my cell phone. Good luck!"

I kissed Amelia again, reminded her to be nice to everyone, kissed Felicia and headed to the door. "Thanks again for this Lorena. We could really do with the money this contract is going to bring in". "Mmm-hmm" she murmured, while watching Amelia dance for Felicia "enjoy your day at work then". Yes, my mother-in-law is a total cow sometimes, but she was helping me out in a jam, however disapproving she might feel. It wasn't my fault she hadn't worked a day since she'd been married.

"Right I'm off!", I announced, and before anyone could say anything else I took off down the path and walked up to the bus stop on Mt Albert road. I love my kids dearly, but it felt very freeing to be doing this, to be heading out to work with the grownups. I just hoped this contract panned out. The woman I'd interviewed with, some Australian called Sophie-Anne had talked about how I was going to be her 'resource' for the next few weeks. Read dogsbody I guess. But I needed the money so I was in no position to argue.

The bus pulled up just as I reached the stop, and, more importantly, it wasn't completely full yet so it didn't just drive past us. Excellent. So far the day was going well.

EPOV

I wondered what the time was, and if I was running late. I glanced at my watch and saw it was only 8am and I was already in front of the office building. I decided to stop and get coffee and kill some time, Sophie-Anne and her annoying off-sider Andre weren't going to show up until at least 8.30am. And even then they were of no use to me. Sophie-Anne was always in a meeting, and Andre was, apparently, just too damn important to get any real work done. I was stuck waiting for this 'resource' they both said was arriving today before I could get any of the data I wanted.

When they'd first proposed this trip to me, it had sounded interesting. Our consulting firm, De Castro and Co, had been engaged by the New Zealand subsidiary of a large Australian bank, to conduct an investigation into their fee structure – i.e. how to maximise their income without pissing off their customers. My boss, Victor Madden, had 'suggested' rather forcefully that I should be one of the people sent to Auckland to work on gathering the data necessary. I figured why the hell not? There was not much keeping me in Shreveport and it would look good to have been involved in an international project.

Unfortunately the reality wasn't living up to expectations. Auckland was pretty, but tiny. They'd put me up in an apartment in the centre of the main street, just a five minute walk from the downtown offices of the bank, but trust me, after dark there wasn't that much happening. Just a bunch of drunken teenagers wandering around shouting at each other. And I'd been surprised that the most entertaining thing on a Saturday night was watching the boy racers sit in a traffic jam while competing to see who had the loudest engine and/or stereo system.

Add to that the fact that the two other consultants sent out with me, Chow and Indira, were a married couple who had all their sight-seeing planned out ahead of time (they tried to include me, but my eyes glazed over at mention of wine tours and bush walks). So to sum up, I'd spent 3 very non-productive days in the office last week, achieving fuck all because there was no one to run the data requests I needed, followed by two very boring days in the weekend, stuck alone in the apartment, watching porn and jerking off. I couldn't believe I'd come all this way to be this bored.

And now it was Monday morning, and I was hoping that Andre had finally got his shit together and he was going to be able to produce something for me to work on, or, at the very least, produce the mythical resource.

Coffee in hand, I reached the small meeting room we'd been assigned and set up my laptop. Chow and Indira hadn't arrived yet. They were staying in the same apartment building as me, but had obviously decided to take their time getting here this morning. Although at least they'd had some luck getting some data to work on, as they weren't stuck with the perpetually busy Sophie-Anne and Andre.

I sighed, sipped my coffee and looked out at the view. This was probably the best thing of the whole trip – the building was right on the waterfront and from here on the 15th floor there were views right the way down the harbour and it was some view – although I did have to marvel at the amount of small boats you saw out and about during the day. Who were those fuckers and why weren't they working like the rest of us?

Andre put his head around the door and said "A'right Eric?". I mumbled a greeting back. He said that their resource (seriously did this person not have a name?) was starting this morning and he was just going into a meeting with Sophie-Anne and the contractor and he'd bring her around to meet me shortly.

At least it looked as though I might finally get to do some work today.

**So let me know your thoughts. Hopefully there isn't anything too foreign in there yet (wait until we get to some of the place names), but if you want to know anything about New Zealand, just PM me!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN - So I wrote the first chapter as a sort-of dare to myself. I'd been reading the stories here for a while, and I had this idea in my head, but I'm the biggest procrastinator in the entire world (as my ironing pile will attest), so for a long time it was just in my head. And yesterday I decided I should write something. So I did. Then some lovely people read it and I realised that I had better write something else! So here it is. It's all still un-beta'd, so all the mistakes are mine. The characters aren't however, they belong to to Charlaine Harris.**

SPOV

OK, ten minutes in a room with Sophie-Anne LeClerc and my eyes were glazing over. She was annoying. Instead of telling me what I was supposed to be doing, we'd been talking about her, about her role as Senior Finance Manager, Retail Banking. About how she was on secondment from Sydney (read, here only to be a big fish in a small pond so she could be promoted on her return), and about how she was going to be very, very busy the next few weeks working on next year's budget so she was leaving me in the care of Andre, Senior Finance Analyst. Oh joy. And on that note, she buggered off to a planning meeting.

This left me with Andre. He, apparently, had emigrated here from Leeds in the UK along with his Swedish girlfriend, who was a massage therapist (yeah, right). He was probably younger than me, but obviously losing his hair, as he'd shaved most of it off. He was pudgy, wore glasses, and stared very intently at me in a way that was downright creepy. I just smiled inanely and kept thinking about the money.

After finally finishing his own autobiography Andre explained what I'd be doing. They had hired consultants in from the States (bet that cost a ridiculous amount of money) to review fees and I needed to run the data extracts of the last 12 months fee charges, broken down into product type and fee type. So far so ho hum – luckily the systems here were pretty similar to the last bank I'd worked at, the one which had made me redundant last year. A week before my maternity leave. Arseholes. Still, that's what happens when a new CFO arrives from Aussie, the decks get cleared and the part-timers are out first.

I'm broken out of my reverie by Andre suggesting we should do a tour of the floor. He shows me where the toilets are, introduces me to the CFO's Executive Assistant, Karen, who issues me with an access card, and then we're through the kitchen, stopping to introduce me to a bunch of people who's names and positions I'll never remember.

Eventually we reach the desk I assume is mine. You can tell it belongs to a contractor because there are no drawers, a chair with worn upholstery and the biggest collection of old computer equipment ever, just dumped in the middle. The keyboard looks nasty, and I make a mental note to find some cleaner for it. Andre takes a seat at the desk next to it, which apparently is his, and says I can 'set myself up'. I guess that means I get to plug everything in. Oh goody, so glad I dressed up to crawl around on a dusty old floor. Still, I remind myself, I could be at home, crawling round on the floor trying to locate all the Polly Pockets that migrated under the couch, and no one pays me for that.

Andre turns to his computer screen and pointedly ignores what I'm doing, so I dump my handbag under my desk, put my jacket over the back of the chair and move it out of the way, and start positioning the equipment. I'm under the desk trying to plug everything in when I hear murmured voices. I guess someone's come to see Andre. Great, whoever it is up there is getting a brilliant view of my backside at the moment. I attempt to plug the monitor in but discover the cord doesn't reach the power socket. "Shit" I mutter to myself, as I try to gracefully back out from under the desk on my hands and knees, while avoiding the pair of shoes that are now standing behind me. As I come up I misjudge where the desk ends and whack it with my head. It takes me by surprise and I blurt out "Bugger!".

Trying to stand up gracefully I realise that the guy standing behind me is just staring at me. He's really tall. And wearing a tie. Must be one of the consultants. He looks sort of young too, which I guess is a sign that you're getting old, when the consultants start to look young to you. He's still just staring at me.

EPOV

It got to 9.30am and there was still no sign of Sophie-Anne, Andre, or this consultant. I'd surfed the internet and caught up on the news from home, sent a few emails, and made small talk with Chow and Indira, who apparently had had a lovely weekend touring wineries on an island somewhere out in the harbour. I considered going for another coffee, just to kill some time, but figured I should probably hunt down Andre and see what the fuck was going on; otherwise I was going to be stuck in Auckland forever.

I found him at his desk, looking at some online betting website. That guy had a serious problem. He hurriedly shut the browser window and turned to face me, so I asked what the story was with the data I needed, as I wasn't able to get much done without it.

And then I heard shuffling and muttering coming from under the desk next to Andre, the one that was normally empty. I looked down and there was a pair of feet wearing black high heels and a rather attractive butt sticking out. So this was the consultant chick then. Maybe if I stuck around I could get her to do some of the work I needed.

I watched as she started to back slowly out, and then winced internally as she hit her head on the desk and exclaimed, loudly. Realising what she'd said, she blushed, and tried to regain her composure enough to stand up gracefully.

The first glimpse I'd had of her hadn't done her justice; she was gorgeous. She had blonde hair in a ponytail, big blue eyes and full lips. Best of all she was wearing a shirt that was patently straining across her boobs, showing just how well-endowed she was. No wonder that fucker Andre, with his imaginary girlfriend, was keeping her to himself. I realised I was staring at her and struggled to look away.

Andre belatedly decided he'd better make some introductions. "Sookie" he said "this is Eric Northman, the consultant you're going to be working with. Eric, this is Sookie Stackhouse, the contractor we've hired to run those requests."

I shook her hand and we exchanged greetings. I really wasn't paying attention. I think I was still staring. She bit her lip and turned to look at the desk. "OK Eric" she said "I just need to get this set up and then I should be able to log in. Hopefully by lunchtime at the latest I can get started on those requests." She looked at me and I realised she was waiting for me to say something.

"Uh….do you need help with that?" I managed to blurt out. It hadn't escaped my notice that Andre had just been leaving her to it. He really was an asshole.

"No, I'm good. It's not like I haven't done this before." She started trying to push the heavy, old-fashioned monitor along the desk. I sort of pushed in front of her saying "I'll do that if you like".

"Oh, OK, thanks. The power cord wouldn't reach the socket where it was before". She dropped to her knees and crawled back under the desk. Shit, I would have done that for her. "Cheers, Eric. I'll come by and see you later on, OK?" she said, re-appearing once again. I took that as my cue to leave.

"Ok, well when you get set up, maybe we can go over exactly what it is I need?" I asked.

"Andre did tell me, but yeah, that's probably a good idea before I run a whole lot of useless crap".

I told her what meeting room we were in and took my leave. I wondered if I could persuade Andre I needed Sookie to be my resource and move her into the meeting room with me. Maybe it wasn't going to be so boring here after all.

SPOV

I finally got everything plugged in and switched on with a bit of help from the consultant guy, Eric. He was a bit weird. Not as polite as you expect from an American, he hadn't even told me to have a nice day! Still he was a step up from Andre.

I got my log on details from Andre, and managed to get in to the system but I had no email. Andre phoned IT and from his end of the conversation it seemed as though he hadn't put in a separate request for email and internet access like he was supposed to. He just kept saying "But why doesn't a main log on give you everything?". Idiot. Didn't he realise that with IT people you have to spell out every single thing you want, in detail. They don't do assumptions, or logic half the time. I should know, I married one of them.

So we spent a while going over the systems I was going to use and he gave me a chart of accounts and a product code list to use as reference. By this time it was after 11am and I figured I'd better go in search of Eric if I wanted to get started this afternoon.

**Sorry it's a bit slow-going at the moment. I promise we are getting somewhere with the story! If I ignore the ironing for a bit longer, maybe it won't be too long before I can post some more!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N So I felt a bit bad the story was going so slowly, so here's a bit more to keep you going. **

**No beta, so the mistakes are mine, but the characters belong to Charlaine Harris.**

EPOV

I was staring out at the harbour again, thinking maybe it was time to call lunch and go and stretch my legs, when there was a knock on the meeting room door. I turned and saw Sookie stick her head in and search the room for me. I was sitting furthest from the door, closest to the view, and she was glancing nervously at Chow and Indira, wondering, I guess, if she'd found the right room.

"Hey Sookie" I called out, "Down here."

"Oh, there you are", she said making her way past the chairs round the long meeting table, while smiling at Chow and Indira. I made some introductions, explained that they were looking at Business and Agri banking, and at credit cards and subsidiaries. Sookie shook hands with them, and said hello, and sat down next to me. She smelt really good.

Chow and Indira thankfully decided to take this opportunity to take themselves off for lunch. Sookie watched as Chow placed his hand in the small of Indira's back as they walked out the door. I lent over and said "They're married."

"Oh good! I was afraid I was watching some illicit affair between colleagues" she laughed. "After all, I guess you guys are a long way from home and anything could be going on."

The mention of marriage prompted me to do something I hadn't thought of before and I checked her hand. No rings. That was a good sign. I really didn't want to have to steal her off anyone. I wasn't sure I'd be here long enough to do it.

Sookie got out the notebook she was carrying and suggested we go over the requirements. I spent the next 20 minutes droning on about product codes, required fields and terms of references, while Sookie diligently took notes and occasionally asked questions. I had a hard time making eye contact though, she was just too…... something. She lent over to look at something on my laptop screen and her boob got very close to where my arm was resting on the table. I didn't think it was quite normal to feel so excited over contact which had almost taken place.

Eventually I ran out of things to tell her about the work and my gaze drifted back to the view out the window. Sookie's eyes followed mine. "Oh wow" she said "You guys get an awesome view from here."

"Yeah" I agreed "It's pretty cool". Not only could I not make eye contact, but I'd lost most of my conversational skills as well.

"So have you seen much of Auckland since you've been here?" she asked.

"Not really. I mean, I want to, it's just I haven't been here a full week and I don't really know what to see…" OK, now I was officially rambling.

Sookie's face lit up. "Oh there's lot of places you should go! Waiheke for starters. That's one of the islands in the harbour, there are vineyards and restaurants and some nice places to stay. Ummm, even if you don't make there, at least take a ferry across to Devonport, it's really nice there". She pointed in the direction of what I assume was Devonport on the other side of the harbour. "The West Coast beaches are really something – black sand, surf. There's Piha, or Kare Kare. That's where they filmed The Piano, you know?" I didn't so I looked a bit blank, but Sookie carried on anyway. "Oh, and whatever you do, don't bother paying to go up the Sky Tower, it's just a rip off. Drive to the top of Mt Eden instead. The view is just as good and it's free".

She stopped, and looked at me expectantly. I wasn't sure what to say. I wanted to ask her if she wanted to show me all these places, but before I did that she said "Why don't you see if Sophie-Anne wants to show you around? I don't think she's been here long and maybe you could see the places together?"

Fuck. No way was I was going anywhere with Sophie-Anne. She'd already made it pretty clear that she was interested in me, but the woman was on a mission to create her own little empire, and I had no desire to become one of her subjects. I was leaving that shit to Andre. But I had to say something to Sookie so I just said "Yeah, maybe. So, um, just let me know if you need anything else from me?"

"Right, yeah. I should be OK. Catch you later, Eric". With that, she picked her way through all the chairs and cords that littered the room, and headed off in the direction of her desk. I rubbed a hand over my face and went back to staring at the view. I had to do better than that.

SPOV

Eric seemed OK, if a little morose and quiet. I thought all consultants loved the sound of their own voice. I'd decided to try to have a bit more of a conversation with him before heading back to my desk, and ended up trying to enthuse him about sight-seeing in Auckland. He didn't seem enthused. Then it dawned on me, he was probably lonely. It's no fun doing all that stuff by yourself and if the other two consultants were a couple already, he was probably sick of being third wheel. That's when I made the brilliant suggestion of taking Sophie-Anne. Unfortunately I didn't have any young, single friends to set him up with, but aside from being a bit conceited she was pretty and they'd probably have a good time. Eric said he probably would so I figured my work here was done.

I stopped in the kitchen to make myself a coffee and headed back to my desk. Andre had, thankfully, disappeared off somewhere, so I unpacked the sad little lunch I had in my handbag and set to work. It was boring running the requests for data, but at the same time quite relaxing. I could just sit and focus and enjoy my lunch. As much I hated to admit it, a lot of my peace came from the fact that no one was crying and there wasn't a little voice going "Mummy!" every few minutes. I loved Amelia. She was funny, and smart and beautiful. But jeez, she was LOUD, and she could talk the hind leg off a donkey!

By about 4.30pm, after several false starts and a bit of tweaking of the request parameters, I finally had the first month's data in the format Eric had requested. I just wasn't sure how I was going to get to him.

I headed back to the meeting room and found him sitting there by himself, staring intently at his laptop screen. He hadn't seen me, so I took a moment to really look at him. He was really handsome, like a model or a movie star. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and just so tall. I wasn't used to seeing people that tall. He looked up and I waved hello.

"I've finished the first lot of data, and thought I'd give you that to check before I carry on, in case you want to make changes. So, um, what do you want me to do with it?"

"Oh" he said "They've given me an internal email address, so you could email it to me?"

"You're doing better than me!" I replied "Andre stuffed up the requests and I'm still waiting on IT to set mine up. I don't suppose you have access to any of their drives?"

Eric shook his head no. I was a bit stumped, but his face lit up as he obviously had an idea. Grabbing something off the table he said "I'll come back with you to your desk and we can copy it onto this USB drive".

I turned and walked out of the room, Eric following along behind me. We got back to my desk and I sat down and unlocked the screen, Eric hovering behind. I brought up the file with the data and he lent over and put the USB drive into the port on the pc. Boy he smelt good this close up. I scooted my chair over and let him save it off. When that was done he grabbed the drive, straightened up and looked down at me. "Thanks Sookie" he said, and was off before I could even say "No problem Eric.". He was a bit odd.

Still, I'd made it through my first day without any major catastrophes. I grabbed my stuff and headed for the bus stop, grateful to see one already parked there.

By the time I got off the bus in Mt Albert and got back to Lorena's flat it was nearly 5.30pm and I knew I'd be dealing with two tired and hungry kids. I realised that I hadn't mentioned my kids to anyone at work. I reasoned that it was none of their business, and that it was better if they saw me as a capable contractor, not a mother who'd skip off at any opportunity. Deep down I knew it was because I didn't want to go over the story of poor Sookie, single mother, once again.

I knocked on Lorena's door. I could hear both Amelia and Felicia squealing inside. I hoped they'd been good. Lorena opened the door and she looked a bit worn around the edges. Yeah, kids will do that to you. "MUMMY!" yelled Amelia, and she rushed at me. Felicia just squealed, so I went over to pick her up.

"How were they?" I asked Lorena, hoping to god I was only going to hear good things.

"They were very good. Felicia seems to be a fussy eater though. And Amelia does want to watch an _awful_ lot of television, don't you think?" Yeah Dora was our friend, so what? I decided it was best to just keep quiet, but Lorena went on. "Shouldn't Felicia be crawling by now? All my children crawled by 7 months, I'm sure."

Probably to get away from you I thought. "Gosh" I said "that must have been hard work for you."

"Oh no" said Lorena "we had playpens of course, so they couldn't go far. You don't have a playpen for Felicia?" Well no, I wasn't big on imprisoning my children, but I had to be nice. I needed Lorena, like it or lump it, or this whole contract wasn't going to work as the childcare arrangements were the most complicated bit. In the interests of in-law relations I simply mumbled something about looking into it when she started crawling, and started hustling the kids into the car.

Amelia was full of stories about what she and Nana had done, so at least she had a good time. I was a bit dubious about her stories of Nana teaching her to knit though. From what I could gather she'd been allowed to hold the wool while Lorena knitted. Still, at least she enjoyed being a glorified hand-maiden.

I asked what she'd had for lunch and Amelia said "Baked beans on toast!" Bugger. There went my plan for our dinner. Fish fingers it was then.

Walking through the door at home I tripped over something rather solid. Bloody Bob. He just looked at me with large yellow eyes, reminding me that he hadn't been fed either. He took off though when Amelia squatted down and tried to hug him. She loved that cat. The feeling wasn't mutual.

Putting Felicia in her high chair I called out to Amelia, "Amelia do you want some water?" Amelia was intent on the colouring in she'd picked up. "Yes" came the reply.

"Yes, what?" I called back.

"Yes I do want some water." I sighed. She didn't mean to be cheeky, but sometimes she just wasn't on my wavelength. I hoped to God she'd remembered her manners when she was with Lorena.

I tried again. "What's the magic word?"

"Abracadabra"

I gave up. She was pretty good at please and thank you, most of the time.

Two hours later everyone was fed, bathed, and in bed asleep, with only a small amount of emotional blackmail from Amelia, who had threatened she wouldn't love me any more if I only read one story to her. Gosh, who here might be related to Lorena?

This was the bit I hated. Well I pretty much hated doing the whole dinner-bath-bed routine with only one pair of hands, but I really hated the long evenings by myself. Goddamn Bill, I thought to myself, while trying to find something to watch on TV. Still, today was better. Work distracted me and I'd made it all day before I'd felt the need to curse his name.

EPOV

Having finally got some actual data, thanks to Sookie, I stayed in the office later than I had been to review it. So it was nearly 7pm by the time I left. I braved the buskers and vagrants hanging around outside the Burger King on Queen Street and got myself dinner on the way back to the apartment. Indira and Chow had left about an hour ago, after deciding on which restaurant they wanted to try tonight. We got a food allowance but I couldn't face sitting in a restaurant again by myself, and I'd pretty much worked my way through the limited room-service menu. Anyway, at the rate I was going I was going to have to funnel the food allowance into paying off the porn and mini-bar tab I was accumulating.

Tonight, however, I decided to forgo the adult movies on offer, as the porn in my head was a lot better. It involved Sookie, on her knees, under a desk again. Fuck she was sexy. I'd had to almost run away from her this evening, before I did something stupid, like try to kiss her. She probably thought I was a complete dick. Fuck. I was going to have to do a lot better with her tomorrow. Maybe we could talk sight-seeing again and I could get her to take me somewhere. Hopefully, somewhere that was pretty close to her bedroom.

**So thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed or alerted this story. It means a lot to me.**

**Place names (I in no way lay claim to being an expert in Maori, so these are the common pronunciations, not necessarily the ones which are correct) - **

**Waiheke is pronounced Why-heck-ee**

**Piha is pronounced Pea-har**

**Kare Kare is pronounced Carry Carry, and yes, it is the beach where they filmed the movie The Piano, which is what Anna Paquin used to be famous for.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N A huge thank you to everyone who has read, alerted and reviewed this story so far. Sorry to those I haven't replied to yet, be assured I do appreciate the reviews.**

**I'm endeavouring to move everything along so there's a lot of Sookie in this one, hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they belong to Charlaine Harris.**

SPOV

I woke up the next morning a lot earlier and a bit less brighter than I'd hoped for. Felicia had been restless overnight, and then Amelia decided 5.45am was a perfectly good time to climb into bed with me and announce that "Bed is borin'". Even Bob hadn't been keen on getting up that early.

I wasn't keen on leaving my nice warm bed as the mornings were still cool in October; I guess it was still fairly early in spring. As I positioned the electric heater in the kitchen I thought I must sort out foam insulation and heat pumps. Preferably before next winter. This house had been in a permanent state of renovation for about 3 years now, and I needed to get the energy together to finish it off. Hopefully the money from this contract, and any others I could get in the future, would help with that.

My bungalow looked like pretty much all the bungalows on our street in Mt Eden, just little boxes made of weather boards, built sometime in the early 20th century. Like so many other couples, Bill and I had bought it five years earlier with the dream of gutting it and turning it into a spacious family home. Unfortunately, although New Zealand, and Auckland especially, was fairly temperate, we liked to pretend it was warmer than it really was. So we didn't insulate our houses properly. It wasn't such a problem when these places had been built with tiny rooms which were stuffed with carpets, curtains and wallpaper to keep the chill air out. But now, of course, we knocked out walls and pulled up carpets (to show off the polished Kauri floorboards). We put up blinds instead of curtains, or just installed huge glass doors and left them unfurnished. We stripped off the wallpaper and opted for paint. And then we were left with lovely, but cold, family homes.

Getting up that early meant we were ready a bit early, even with the show-down between Amelia and I over what she was going to wear. She stamped her foot and yelled at me, thoroughly showing off her Compton genes. In the end I capitulated for the sake of peace. I was leaving home when she got to 13.

I was just happy to be wearing grown up shoes with heels. And I'd been pleased to find another shirt I could actually get done up. My boobs were still recovering from weaning Felicia and it was a bit of a problem to get them into a lot of my work wear without ending up looking like a slut. I'd caught Andre talking to my chest yesterday. Ick.

I put Felicia and all our bags in the car and went back for Amelia. She was sitting there going "Come ON, Bob", while holding up her hula hoop. A wary Bob had backed under the dining room table. "Sweetheart" I said "Bob isn't going to jump through the hoop for you. He's not a circus cat."

"Aargh". Amelia threw down the hoop in disgust and started following me out the door. "Can we get a tiger then?"

"Absolutely not".

It was a short drive to the daycare where Amelia attended pre-school. Luckily, I'd kept her enrolled 3 days a week even while I was on maternity leave with Felicia, and even luckier still, it was a bit cheaper now she was 3 and the government provided a (paltry) subsidy to the centre.

She loved it here, and after a brief hugging session with her best friend, Maisie, while I signed her in and deposited her bag, she grabbed a little boy called Cooper and was off to get him to play babies with her. "Bye Mum" she called over her shoulder, without actually looking at me. She was the Sophie-Anne of this little world. Good luck Cooper.

Back in the car I drove another 5 minutes and pulled up outside a bungalow, not too different from mine, in Sandringham. Calvin was outside putting his tools into the back of his work truck.

Bill's sister Judith, the farthest from me in age of all his sisters, but the one I got on best with, had gone to London and returned with a baby and a South African fiancé, Calvin Norris. I was fond of Calvin; he worked hard as a builder and seemed to genuinely care for Judith and their baby Jessica. And he'd once said he thought I was younger than I actually am which was a definite point in his favour. Even Lorena struggled to pick faults with him, and hadn't made too much fuss about Jessica arriving before the wedding, or even the engagement. Still, Judith's older sister Sarah had started having babies at 16, so I guess Lorena had already dealt with the drama of an unmarried mother. Several times over in Sarah's case.

"Hey Sookie!" Calvin called out cheerfully, as I got Felicia and her belongings out of the car. "Hi" I called back. As I got closer, he came in for a hug. Felicia squealed at him. The kids just adored him, Amelia especially. It caused a bit of friction between her and Jessica.

"I was going to call you" he said, stepping back. "I've got some scrap wood to get rid of from here and I was going to come around and collect up the stuff I left behind at your place too. Maybe this weekend."

"That would be great, Calvin" I said. Because it's been sitting beside the house for about a year now. We'd had Calvin do some of our building work on the cheap. He wasn't completely qualified, and it was a bit dodgy in places, but the labour was cheap and I didn't mind him turning up at odd hours as he counted as family.

I made my way inside and found Judith trying to catch Jessica to get her t-shirt on her. Jessica was a year older than Felicia, so Judith was going to be busy today, but she was a daycare teacher, working four days a week, so I was pretty sure she could manage it.

"How are you doing, Sookie?" Judith asked, once Jessica had been caught, dressed and set free to create havoc again. "Oh, you know" I answered, hoping she did so I wouldn't have to elaborate and spell out that I was still feeling fragile and emotionally drained this many months down the track. Maybe yesterday was better, Lorena didn't care about me enough to actually ask how I was, and I wasn't game enough to ask her and risk another round of "my poor son who was taken to his grave before his time".

"I'm enjoying being back in the land of the grown ups again!" I said. And yes I was. Focus on the positives, Sookie.

Judith eyed me warily, like she knew I was hiding something. "How did Mum cope yesterday?" she asked after a while.

"She looked pretty tired. Amelia's a handful sometimes. But she seemed OK, and she didn't say she wouldn't do it again."

"Hmm. Well I hope for your sake she doesn't come down with anything before next week then."

Crap. I hadn't thought of that. Lorena was notorious in the family for developing dire medical conditions which required a lot of bed rest and the sympathy of the entire family. She always recovered, but everyone ended up resenting being called to her bedside. Fingers crossed she didn't try to play that trick on me.

Changing the subject, I asked if Judith had heard anything from Sarah lately.

"She rang the other night. Apparently Matt's managed to run up some huge speeding fines that they can't pay, and he's in pain again and has stopped working completely. She doesn't know how they're going to pay it, and apparently she can't feed her kids. I pointed out that she could stop smoking and use that money, but she hung up on me."

Judith didn't sound all that sympathetic to her sister's plight, so I guessed that I didn't have to be either. Sarah had had two children before she turned 19, and another two with her current partner Matt, who, allegedly ran a landscaping business when his back wasn't playing up. It was widely suspected that he just grew dope out the back of the property they rented, but no one was ever game enough to say it out loud.

Judith and Sarah were only 18 months apart and had a bit of love/hate relationship. Mostly they were united in their animosity towards Portia, who was older than both of them. Portia had one son, a rather scared looking 8 year old boy, who she was home-schooling. He didn't seem to have a father, but Portia held out he was a gift from God, as she'd found religion and liked to share it with her sisters. They considered her a nutcase. Even Lorena was outwardly hostile towards her. I kept out of that one.

The fourth and final sister Caroline came between Portia and my husband Bill, the oldest. She'd gone off to university in Dunedin at 18 and gone straight to Sydney after graduating, where, I think, she worked in TV production. We saw her once a year if that and I think that was about as much of her family as she wanted to see.

Never having had a sister, only my rather feckless older brother Jason, I was both fascinated and appalled by Bill's sisters. Mostly they made me worried about what I would be dealing with when Felicia and Amelia were older. I'd never known that Christmas day could involve quite so much crying, screaming, name-calling and sulking before I'd started celebrating with the Comptons.

"Right, I'm off then." I said. I kissed Felicia and handed her to Judith, running over her routine again. Then I headed out the door and off to the bus stop on Sandringham Road. The buses here were a bit less regular, but I was on my way just after 8am and actually looking forward to another day at work. Even having to sit next to Andre was better than being alone with my thoughts.

Getting to work, I found Andre already sitting at his desk, apparently watching the live scoring from some English premiership soccer game on the internet. I wondered if he ever did any work at all. "Hi Andre" I said, plastering on my best smile, as I put my stuff down and switched on the pc. It whirred and made a funny grinding sound, before starting up. Hope it lasted for the few weeks I was here.

"Oh, mornin' Sookie" Andre said. "Check if they've set up your email, would you? I spoke to the IT guys again last night and they promised it would be ready by this morning."

After the PC finally got itself going (I was considering offering it coffee it was taking so long) I checked, and sure enough I had email. Andre said that he'd threatened to go down to IT and sit there until someone set it up. Obviously that threat had worked wonders. Andre didn't seem to be that popular anywhere.

I thought I'd better go and find Eric and see if what I'd produced to date was OK. There was no sign of him in the meeting room, but the female consultant (Indira?) was there and gave me a post-it so I could leave a note on his laptop. I wrote that I now had email so he could send me a note if he needed anything changed, otherwise I'd carry on.

I grabbed coffee in the kitchen, headed back to my desk and ploughed on. I'd decided that if I really put the effort into doing this as efficiently as possible, they wouldn't mind I was only working four days a week (that had been a bit of a sticking point with Sophie-Anne when they interviewed me) and maybe they'd get me back to do something else. So head down, bum up it was then.

EPOV

I'd started the morning with a clear plan in my head of how I was going to approach Sookie today, but I'd been over it so many times already I was starting to doubt myself. So at 9am I went out for coffee. My fucking luck that when I got back to the meeting room, Sookie had been and gone, leaving behind a note which didn't leave a lot of opportunity for further contact. Fuck again.

And to top it all off Sophie-Anne decided to make a fleeting visit on her way to another meeting. "Eric" she drawled "how are you finding the contractor we hired? Everything up to scratch?"

"Yeah, fine Sophie-Anne. She's started the work and so far it's what I wanted."

"Good. Well, just let me know if there's anything I can do. Or on the other hand, maybe talk to Andre; I think I'm going to be a little tied up this week, at least during work hours. Maybe though, we should meet up for dinner or something to discuss the whole project further? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to check that we're both on the same page."

"Ah…..yeah. Maybe..." She looked at me for half a minute as if she expected a formal dinner invitation, and I turned back to my laptop screen.

"Right, well, I must be off then. Can't keep the CFO waiting. See you around."

I listened to the click of her heels as she disappeared into the distance.

Sighing, I glanced out the window at the rather impressive cruise ship that was now moored directly opposite, the top deck about level with this office. I briefly fantasised about running across the road and stowing away. I realised I should probably be working, and turned back to my laptop.

By about 1pm I was starting to curse myself for being such a pussy and not talking to Sookie. I couldn't figure out why I was so obsessed with her. I'd seen pretty girls before; I'd slept with lots of them. Usually all I had to do was suggest a drink and they were mine, for the night at least. But there was something about Sookie. Something about how she managed to shake off hitting her head on that desk. Something about the way she smiled at me when she was trying to get to me to go sight-seeing with Sophie-Anne. She'd seemed genuine. Like maybe she'd actually care what I though. Like maybe she'd be good to talk to, at least after we'd had sex.

I hated having feelings.

New plan. I was going to talk to her, ask her out for drinks, fuck her and then that was it. I was leaving in a few weeks and we could just get on with our lives.

I headed over to the open plan office, but before I could get near her desk I could hear her voice coming from the kitchen, so I turned to catch the end of the conversation.

"Yeah it's hell over in the Downtown mall. I tried to get the pharmacy at lunchtime, but the foodcourt is full of elderly Americans in baseball caps who can't understand our money. It's like a warzone…."

At that point she turned around caught my eye. She blushed, but obviously decided to brave it out as she plastered on a big, fake smile and said "Hi Eric!" a little too brightly.

I smiled back. I was trying to work out if she hated all Americans, or just our senior citizens. Or maybe only those that went on cruises. Or was it in fact, the baseball caps?

"I have a baseball cap." I blurted out. That probably wasn't the most suave thing to say.

"What? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Obviously you're not included in my little tirade there. But let's just say it's packed over in the mall today! So everything all right with the data? I sent you an email with some more files just before lunch."

"Ah, yeah. It's all great actually…" but before I could say anything else, or even put the new plan into action, she breezed past me.

"Great, I'll get back to it then. I'm on a roll!" and with that she was gone.

Shit. I think she hates me.

SPOV

I think I just insulted Eric's grandparents. Crap. He probably thinks I'm a mean-minded cow. Maybe I should introduce him to Lorena so I'll look good in comparison. At any rate, I doubt he'll want to be Facebook Friends.

**A/N So yes, Bill is officially no more, but his legacy lives on in the crazy family that Sookie is left to deal with! **

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Wow this is exciting! I can't believe that people actually want to read the stuff I make up in my head when I'm bored. Who knew? So thank you so much to everyone who had read, reviewed and alerted this story. It's mind-blowing.**

**Disclaimer: I have no beta, so I own the mistakes, but the characters are not mine.**

SPOV

Getting ready and out the door on the Wednesday morning turned into a mare. It was pouring with rain and Bob decided that the best way to dry himself was to rub all over my legs, leaving me wet and sporting clumps of cat hair. Amelia's need to do everything herself, from doing up her buttons to putting the butter on her toast, drove me bananas and I yelled at her and made her cry, then I felt awful. Needless to say by the time I dropped her at pre-school we were both a bit glad for the break.

Today Felicia was going to looked after by my friend Tara, which meant getting across to Remuera in the rain. Every idiot with a car (which is pretty much everyone in Auckland) was out in force and it took a lot longer to get there than I wanted. I must have looked a bit stressed, as Tara decided to save me a wet trip to the busstop and drove me into town in my car.

Tara worked four days a week in her family's plastics company doing the accounts. She and her husband JB, who was an accountant, had two kids, Charlotte and Lachlan. JB made good money, but I suspected that their house, in the rather nice, old-money suburb of Remuera, and purchased because of the school zone it was in, might have partially been a present from her dad. Still, he probably owed Tara. I remembered when we at university and he'd lost his licence for drink-driving again. She'd spent a long time at his beck and call, diving across Auckland to collect him from wherever he and his mates from Rugby League had been drinking.

As Tara drove us into the city she must have noticed I was feeling a bit tense. I was starting to second-guess myself about this working thing.

"So how are you Sookie?" she asked.

"Well, I fell out with Amelia this morning and feel like the worst mother in the world for making my 3 year old cry because I was stressed about being late for work".

"Yeah, motherhood sucks. But it does get better as they get older and less dependent. At the very least you stop feeling so guilty when you hide from them in the bathroom. So how's it going with the job?"

"OK I guess. The people I'm working with are the usual bunch of work-shy idiots you find in those roles. The work is mind-numbingly boring. But at least I haven't forgotten where I've left my kids yet!"

Tara laughed. "So no friends or anything yet? Maybe a nice guy you could hook up with?" Yeah, that was blunt.

"No. I haven't got the energy for that these days". Or the inclination really. "And anyway, the guy I'm working with is not exactly a catch. And the only other guy I've spoken to is a consultant in from the States and I accidentally insulted him yesterday."

"How on earth did you do that?"

So I had to relay the story of running my mouth off and Eric hearing it. Poor Eric, he looked mopey enough without having to find out what we thought of American tourists.

By the time I'd finished the tale of how my foot ended up in my mouth, Tara was pulling up outside the office. 'Thanks for that" I said "I should be fine getting the bus back tonight and I'll just see you at your place."

"Yeah, bye Sookie. Have a good day. And try not to insult any other nationalities. You don't want to cause any major international incidents."

With that I opened the car door and dashed through the rain, up the stairs and into the lobby. I went over to the large panel and swiped my access card to call a lift. Wandering over to the lift the screen had said was coming for me, I spied Eric. He was about to walk straight past me when I stuck a hand out and grabbed his arm. He looked down, a bit shocked.

"Hey" I said, feeling a bit stupid now. "I've called a lift". He frowned. "I mean elevator". Wow, we needed an interpreter. "It's this one", I gestured to the lift I was standing in front of. Well of course it was, or else I'd be standing somewhere else.

"Thanks" said Eric, kind of standing awkwardly next to me. I guess he was still feeling odd because of my bad manners yesterday.

"Listen" I started, feeling like I should just get it out of the way. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm not really anti-American or anything, I just had a bad morning and was feeling grumpy." At this point the lift arrived and Eric stepped aside to let me get in first.

He still hadn't said anything so I ploughed on. "I'd just wanted to pick a few things up in the mall, but it was really busy and took longer than I wanted. And then Andre made a snide comment about me being out for so long and I just, well….yeah." I stopped. This wasn't going so well.

Then Eric smiled. Wow, he was really gorgeous when he smiled. He should do that more often. He said "I'm surprised Andre could tear himself away from his sports betting long enough to actually notice you'd been gone".

Hey, Eric has a sense of humour too. I giggled. "Well I'm just a contractor, so I couldn't possibly comment on anyone's work ethic. But if you have to look at cutting costs, I'm sure you know where you could start."

"Sadly that's not in our brief, but maybe I could suggest to the CFO that he engage our firm again and we look at taking on a bit of restructuring in the finance department?" He flashed another one of his smiles. With that the lift doors opened and we stepped out.

"Yep, that's a consultant for you. Always on the look-out for an opportunity to tell someone what they probably already knew." Oooh, was that too near the bone? No, he smiled at that. Good. "Right, well. I'll see you Eric."

"Yep, see you". And with that I headed off to face Andre once again.

EPOV

I'd had another boring night in Auckland to go over everything that was wrong in my life, and I'd come to the realisation that it was quite a lot. Being this far away from home had brought home just how completely and utterly fucked my life was.

My job bored me. I had no real relationships, I don't think I'd even told my father I was going to be out of the country. I couldn't remember the last time I'd bothered to see a woman more than once, they all bored me as well. But back in Shreveport I could at least pretend that it was all OK. I hung out with a few of the guys from work, I went to the gym, I went to bars. I kept busy. I wasn't quite sure when I'd given up trying, but everything came so easily – I had women, money, a degree of success. I had stuff. But I wasn't happy. And I hadn't realised it until now.

Worst of all the fucked up part of my brain that had decided to go all introspective on me, had decided that the key to happiness was Sookie Stackhouse. Why she was so different I don't know. But none of my plans to have her were working out and I was seriously pissed off that she was likely to dismiss me as just another dumb American. I couldn't figure out what I could do to get over that obstacle.

So I was lost in my thoughts when I arrived at the office that morning and almost walked past Sookie until she grabbed my arm. For a moment I thought I'd imagined her, given the amount I'd been thinking, and fantasizing, about her in the last few days.

But no, it was her. She was really lovely. Although she was still on her dumb American kick, translating 'lift' for me. I had figured that one out. But she apologised for the previous day and I only missed a bit of what she said because I was watching her mouth and wondering what she was like at blow-jobs. And if she swallowed.

However, she did hand me an opportunity when she confessed to Andre's fucked-up decision to question her timekeeping. He really was a slimy little cretin, and I wished I could do something to get Sookie away from him.

I made her laugh though. That was something. That was definitely promising.

SPOV

I spent a couple of hours working away while listening to Andre on the phone harassing some poor person in the Department of Immigration about residency visas for two of his brothers he supposedly wanted to bring to New Zealand. Oh great, because we needed more of them.

Although I was trying hard to be frugal and not spend all the money I was making, I decided I needed a treat. Andre had managed to pause his phone conversation long enough to go to a meeting, so I thought I'd head down to the coffee place in the lobby and treat myself. I'm sure I could afford $3.50. Just this once.

I was standing in the queue to order, looking longingly at the cupcakes but telling myself that the muesli bar I had in my handbag (specially designed for kids aged 1-3) would be just as good, when I heard a voice behind me say "Sookie." With an American accent.

"Eric" I said turning round. "Hi"

"Hi" he replied. We stood there. "So…" he started, "Can I buy you a coffee? As a thank you for all the hard work you've been doing?"

"Ummm sure. But you know Sophie-Anne is paying me for it, right? I'm not just here out of the goodness of my heart!". He laughed again. This was good.

When we made it to the front of the line Eric ordered our coffees, he couldn't figure out the appeal of my flat white, but hey, it's a Kiwi thing. I'd been going to get one to go, but he suggested we sit down. I hesitated, Andre was in a meeting, but I didn't want to risk a repeat of yesterday when he got snippy with me.

Eric must have realised what I was thinking. "Don't worry" he said "if Andre says anything just say we were in a meeting. I'll back you up. As it is, these are going on my expense account so it's almost definitely a business meeting."

"Ok then. Yeah, let's sit down."

We found some free seats and looked at each other for a minute before Eric broke the ice. "So, you seem to know a lot about Auckland. Have you always lived here?"

"Yep, all my life. Apart from when I did my OE."

"OE?"

"Yeah, that's another Kiwi thing. Overseas Experience. We all head off, usually to London, to live in squalor, work crappy jobs and generally experience life. New Zealand's so far away from everywhere that it's a big deal to get to a lot of places so we sort of do our travel by basing ourselves somewhere else. And it's fun to live somewhere so different, with so much more history than there is here."

"So…you lived in London?"

"Yeah, for nearly 3 years. I worked for a few banks and things over there and travelled a lot, all through Europe and places like Egypt. I went to the States a few times. It was great. But I was glad to get home."

"Wow, so you've done a lot of travelling then?"

"A bit. I ended up working more than I planned. The money was nice – transferring pounds to New Zealand dollars is great – but there were other things I wanted to see. What about you? Whereabouts in the States do you live?"

"Shreveport in Lousisana" I must have looked blank because he said "It's in the South."

"That's not a bit I've been to."

"It's alright. I'm just there for work. I used to live in California."

"Oh, well I've been there. So have you travelled much? Do they often send you away for work?"

"Nope, this is the first trip overseas. I've been sent all round the States, but before I came here I'd probably only been to Canada and Mexico outside the States. Oh, and Jamaica once."

With that our coffees arrived and conversation lapsed for a bit. Eric looked out the window and looked kind of lost again. I guess he was in his late '20's but sometimes he just looked like a lost kid and it was heart-breaking. I knew he wasn't my responsibility, I knew I shouldn't want to make it all better for him, but my maternal instinct must have been confused by being separated from my kids during the day. Having failed to cheer him up through being his tour guide or his match-maker the other day, I decided, somewhat recklessly, to try my hand at career counselling.

"So Eric" I began. He turned back to look at me. "Have you always wanted to be a consultant?"

"Fuck no" he said laughing. "I just finished my MBA, did a bunch of interviews and got offered a job with a company called Ocella Inc. It was OK. The work was pretty straightforward and they paid well. I did my time there and then moved on to De Castro & Co, where I am now."

"So if you could do anything else, and money was no object, what would you be doing then?" I was genuinely curious. Surely the beautiful people of the world didn't get stuck in jobs they hated?

Eric looked stumped. He frowned and sighed and eventually said "Well, I've always thought it might be cool to own a bar or something….

And I said the first thing that came into my head. "Oh Eric. I don't think you make any money in the hospitality industry. And wouldn't the hours be horrific?"

Crap. Eric looked crestfallen. Like I'd kicked his puppy or keyed his car or something. So much for cheering him up.

"But I guess" I said, with my best consoling smile "you're young enough to cope with the late nights. Me, I'm well past those days."

"Yeah" he said. "Maybe you're right. I've just never really given it much thought. Chances are I'll just stay doing what I'm doing."

"Well, It's a good job. And you never know, you might be sent somewhere even more exotic next time."

Eric sort-of half-smiled and stood up, having finished his coffee. I followed suit and we walked back to the panel to call the lifts in silence. "Thanks for the coffee Eric. Or should I say. Thank you for agreeing to meet me this morning to discuss the work I've been doing."

That got a better smile out of him. Shit he was hard work. I wondered if he had a girlfriend and if he was this moody at home. Bill at least had the decency to hide himself away in his study when he was in a mood so I was less tempted to throw dinnerware at him.

Before I knew it we'd arrived back on our floor without any further conversation. "See you Eric." I said.

"Yep, see you Sookie". He started to walk away, then turned and came striding back rather purposefully, which was kind of scary because his legs were so long he was in front of me before I fully realised he was coming back.

"Sookie if Andre says anything else, you know, gives you shit about anything. Tell me, won't you? Don't let him make you miserable?"

Wow. This is intense. I think Eric is looking for an excuse to do something to Andre. Much as I hated the idiot I didn't want to set Eric on him. That wouldn't work out well.

"Oh no, it's all good. I'm fine. I'm a big girl and I've had to handle bigger arseholes than Andre. Seriously, don't worry about me. I'm just here to do a job and get paid and then I'm gone. None of you will ever see me again."

I headed to the door and swiped my access card. "See you" I said and walked back to my desk.

EPOV

I'd finally managed to have coffee with Sookie and it hadn't gone at all as I'd imagined. When I saw her standing in the queue I'd practically sprinted across the lobby to stand behind her. Luckily she hadn't noticed that.

It was going well for a while; she'd let me buy her coffee, I'd managed to stop her bolting back to the office by saying we were having a business meeting, I'd managed to learn a few things about her. But she wanted to talk about me, and what I wanted, which was one of my least favourite subjects. Telling Sookie my innermost dreams and desires wasn't exactly part of my normal seduction routine. Maybe I should have just made shit up? I didn't know quite what she wanted to hear. She certainly wasn't impressed with my off-the-cuff idea to buy a bar.

But she liked travel. Maybe I could work with that. Maybe I could swoop in take her away from all of this and we could travel together. I sat at my desk and tried to ignore the new fantasies I had running through my head, ones where Sookie and I drove fast cars through exotic locations, sipped champagne in nice restaurants, and had lots and lots of wild sex. That would cure my boredom for sure.

**Thanks for reading!**

**Remuera is pronounced Rem-u-era, so is pretty phonetic. But we commonly call it Remmers.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Wow! Thanks to everyone who has read this story. I'm still just blown away by it all!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not but belone to Charlaine Harris**

EPOV

Thursday morning I got up with a renewed sense of purpose and actually got my ass to the gym before breakfast. I was pretty sure after yesterday that it was only a matter of time and Sookie and I would be driving off into the sunset. With that idea in mind I'd sent an email to my boss Victor enquiring about the possibility of having a long overdue vacation when the work here was finished, and actually staying on in New Zealand. I'd spend the next week or so getting to know Sookie at work and then, by the time we were both finished at the bank, she'd be more than ready to go away with me. OK, so New Zealand probably wasn't the most exotic location for her, but it was a start.

I got to work with no sightings of Sookie, but discovered a meeting invitation from Sophie-Anne sitting in my inbox. Apparently it was a "Meeting to discuss progress" and Sookie and Andre would be there too. Great, at least Sophie-Anne wasn't going to jump me in front of them. And I'd get to see Sookie.

I turned up to the meeting room at the appointed time, to discover I was the last one to arrive and the only seat left was next to the Queen Bitch herself. At least I was sitting across from Sookie, who was wearing a rather nice v-necked top which showed off quite a lot of cleavage. Maybe I shouldn't look if I was going to concentrate on what was happening.

Sophie-Anne cleared her throat and began. "Right, well I just wanted us all to have a quick catch-up and go over the work Sookie's been doing for me and check that everything is to Eric's requirements." With that she looked over at me with what I guess was her version of a winning smile. She looked downright predatory.

"So, Eric" she continued "any problems or concerns that I need to know about?" She fixed Sookie with a stare that I guess was meant to convey that she'd better have been pulling her weight.

"Nope. So far everything's as required and I think Sookie's nearly finished, so I should be able to finish my model off next week and start working on the recommendations." I smiled at Sookie, and she smiled back. Andre just stared at us.

"Andre" said Sophie-Anne, making him turn to face her "Anything you'd like to add?" He shook his head. I guess it was hard to contribute when you didn't actually do any work.

"So that just leaves you Sookie. Anything else you require from us?" Sophie-Anne obviously expected this to be a one-word answer as she started gathering up her notebook, pen and phone.

"Actually" said Sookie "I was wondering how you were going to include the fee reversals?"

"Fee reversals?" said Sophie-Anne rather shrilly, looking at Andre, who was staring at Sookie, as if she was speaking a different language.

"Yeah, you know. When the branch or call centre staff reverse the fees for the customers. I was looking through the chart of accounts and it gets put through a separate line, so you really need to net the two off to get a complete picture of what's being earned. The problem is of course that they don't always use product codes when they put a reversal through, so you'd have to find some way to approximate it by product."

Sookie stopped as she realised the tension in the room had risen dramatically. Sophie-Anne was glaring at Andre, who really should have thought of this sooner, I was glaring at Andre because, let's face it, the man is a fuckwad and his incompetence at work is only part of the problem. Andre was staring at the table, but practically vibrating with the rage I could feel was going to go Sookie's way later on. Sookie just looked nervously around. I decided to make sure that Andre was completely clear on my position regarding the whole debacle.

"Well it appears that your _resource_" I almost spat the word out "has proved invaluable. I hope you appreciate the hard work that Sookie has been doing, Andre, and thank her for saving your company from wasting thousands of dollars on a completely fucked-up business model".

Andre stopped looking down and glared at me. I sat back and looked over at Sookie, expecting to see her looking pleased now that she knew I had her back and these two morons couldn't make her life here miserable. Instead she was frowning and looking seriously pissed off. I was pretty sure she mouthed "What the fuck?" at me. What was her problem?

Sophie-Anne broke the tension. "OK, well I think that's all we need from you then Sookie. Good catch on the reversals".

Sookie stood up and said "Thanks, I'll just get back to it then, as it will mean running a few more extracts." She raced out of the room before anything else could happen. I stood up to follow her but Sophie-Anne spoke to me "Eric, Andre and I will need to co-ordinate with the Area Managers to get a sample of product data at the local level, so we'll get onto that now" she shot another withering glance at Andre. "But I'll send you a meeting invitation for tomorrow so we can check over how this affects your model. I should be free between 12 and 2, so we'll call it lunch. See you then."

I nodded and left Andre to his fate. Fuck, now I was stuck with a lunch with Sophie-Anne I'd been trying to avoid. And Sookie was inexplicably pissed at me. I caught up with her just as she was opening the door to head back to the office.

She turned round and just said "WHAT?" looking incredibly mad.

"What do you mean, what?" I asked.

And then she set forth "Listen, MATE, I am perfectly capable of handling that dick Andre all by myself. I don't need you to ride in on your white horse and try to save me. Yes, he's lazy and self-centred and doesn't give a damn about me, but you know what? I don't have a fancy consulting job that pays me a small fortune. I need this job. I need Andre to think I'm competent and I don't cause trouble because at the end of the day I'm just a contractor and they can tell me not to come back any time they like. So yes, I'm their resource. So what? They're paying me for it, it's not forever, and it's quite frankly none of your fucking business. I tried to tell you to back off yesterday, but your head is obviously so far up your own arse, that you can't hear what anyone else is saying"

She stopped and took a few deep breaths. To be honest she'd sort of lost me the minute she'd called me mate and started pointing her finger at me. I thought of a lot of things I wanted to say to her, but simply hissed "A simple thank you would have been nice" turned on my heel and left her standing there. I really didn't need this shit.

SPOV

Wow. Were all Americans that arrogant or was it just Eric? I stomped back to my desk. It was probably just Eric. I guess being that good-looking meant you didn't have to take other people's feelings into consideration. Probably women usually lay down at his feet when he started throwing his weight around. I really did not need to end up caught in a pissing contest between him and Andre.

I started back on my work. After about an hour Andre showed up, looking a bit sheepish. I braced myself for a burst of nastiness from him, but it appeared that Sophie-Anne had obviously beaten him down. He was actually pretty OK, and, apart from saying a bit snippily that maybe I should have come to him with the suggestion first and we could have looked into it together (read, cut Sophie-Anne and Eric out altogether), he pretty much left the subject closed and actually got on with doing some work. I guess he didn't have much choice now that he had to clean up this mess.

The rest of the day passed without incident and there was no sign of Eric. Good. He was just way too much to handle right now. It was the last day of the working week for me and I glad to be getting away from it for a while. Luckily picking up the kids today wasn't going to be such a mission as they were back to being in the same place; I'd wangled a temporary spot for Felicia at Amelia's daycare.

Of course in order to get such a coveted spot I may have pulled out the poor-widow who needs to earn some money card. As much as I hated the pity, I wasn't above using the situation to my own advantage. It actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. Before everything went to shit before he died, Bill had been the poster-boy for responsibility and he had life insurance and a will. So I'd done the prudent thing and paid off the mortgage so that wasn't a problem. But there were still bills and living costs and the rest of the renovations to do and we hadn't had a lot of income for a while, what with my maternity leave and the fact Bill's earning was so erratic for a while there, so I was reluctant to dip too far into our savings as I liked having that buffer. You didn't know what was going to happen next.

So I headed home to collect two tired and grumpy kids, feeling a bit tired myself and looking forward to 3 days away from the office. Next weeks' plan was just to keep my head down, not piss off Andre and avoid Eric Northman. It couldn't be that hard, could it?

EPOV

New plan. Avoid Sookie Stackhouse at all costs. I was seriously pissed off about the whole incident over Andre and decided that enough was enough. I was through wasting my time with her. Fantasy-Sookie was way better than the real thing anyway, she didn't shout at me for one thing.

But I realised that if I was ever going to get over Real-Sookie, Fantasy-Sookie was going to have to go too. With that in mind I decided to head out after work to one of the bars at the Viaduct. It was Thursday night so there was bound to be a crowd. And there was. But it was depressing. I couldn't find any girls I liked half as much as either Sookie, even though there were a few there who obviously liked me. One even pinched my butt and called me a 'spunk'. But she was drunk and had trouble standing up (her friend just stood there giggling at her) and I just couldn't find it in myself to make any effort. Once again, I went back to the apartment alone with only Fantasy-Sookie for company. Yeah, it was going to be hard to let her go completely. She was very skilled and put her mouth to much better uses than accusing me of trying to run her life for her.

Friday morning dawned. It was grey and overcast and I approached the office with the air of a man condemned, knowing that there was no way of avoiding this lunch with Sophie-Anne. I hid out in the meeting room all morning, not even stepping out for coffee for fear of running into Sookie, but at midday I headed down to the lobby, resigned to my fate.

Sophie-Anne was waiting for me, looking impatient. "There you are Eric" she said, walking off. I followed along mutely, I had to go along with this, but I didn't have to put any effort in. She walked outside the building, down some steps and along the street to a tiny Thai restaurant. "I presume this will be OK?" she asked. I nodded, still not in the mood to chat.

It didn't matter anyway. Sophie-Anne managed to fill the silence over lunch pretty well with her own inane chatter, most of which seemed to be about Sophie-Anne and how much she was loved and adored at the bank and had been specially requested to come to New Zealand to 'sort out the finance work for the retail bank and personally assist the CFO in his endeavours'. I wondered if someone had just sold her that story while trying to get her to ship out of Sydney and never come back.

After a while she must have noticed I wasn't saying anything "So, have you seen much of Auckland while you've been here, Eric?" Here we go again.

"Umm, a few things. I was thinking maybe this weekend I might take more of a look around the city."

"Well if you'd like I could show you some places. I've been here 4 months and I've got a pretty good idea of what's good here. It's a very small city, obviously, but there are a few things we could do. Maybe a trip up the Sky Tower and dinner in the restaurant?"

Oh fuck no. This was bad enough but it was during work hours. My weekend was mine.

"Ummm, thanks Sophie-Anne but actually Sookie had offered to show me around this weekend, given that she's from here. I think we're doing the Sky Tower on Saturday." Get the message, bitch.

"Oh…right. Well I'm sure she'll be able to entertain you. No problem at all." She leered slightly when she said entertain. I hope I hadn't made it worse for Sookie. Fuck.

We finished up and I left Sophie-Anne to pay the bill and headed back to the office, saying that I really needed to keep working on revising the model. Shit. I was going to have to talk to Sookie so we could get our stories straight. If she was talking to me that was.

I got to her desk and there was no sign of her. The PC wasn't switched on; there was no jacket or bag. Andre was sitting there though, pointedly ignoring me while making his picks for some fantasy football league he was in.

"Andre" I said, trying to sound as commanding as possible. He turned around with a scowl. 'Where's Sookie? I need to speak to her immediately."

"She doesn't work Fridays" was all he said before turning back to his screen.

Fuck.

**A/N So, yeah. They're not getting anywhere fast are they? Sigh. **

**Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Hello again! Right, thought I would get this one out there. It's a shorter chapter and there's no Eric, but it has a lot of the backstory I know you've been waiting for.**

SPOV

My three days away from working had energised me a bit. I'd caught up on my washing and my vacuuming (boring, but necessary), I'd played endless rounds of witches and fairy princesses with Amelia (just once I wanted to be the fairy princess) and I'd spent time sitting on the floor with Felicia trying to entice her to crawl. She wasn't showing any inclination to do so yet. Still, if she didn't occasionally display a stubborn streak, I would have been worried that she was so laid-back she'd end up like my older brother Jason. He was drifting through life and was currently share-milking somewhere in Taranaki, after having failed spectacularly at a number of other occupations. I hoped he wasn't the only one in charge of the cows, or they were doomed.

I hadn't heard from him since the funeral in March, he was pretty useless at keeping in contact, but then I wasn't a lot better. I was never sure if it was because we only had each other or in spite of it that we were so keen to keep our distance from one another. Our parents had drowned during a storm when their boat capsized when I was 20. I'd lived with our Gran until Bill and I had gone to the UK, but she'd died a few years later while I was on honeymoon. That had been rough.

Still, I had the Comptons I guess. Part of the attraction with Bill had been the big family, at least at first. Once you got to know them it was a bit of a different story of course.

That Saturday we had dinner with Judith, Calvin and Jessica at their house. The weather was just warm enough for us to have a barbeque and sit outside to eat. Lorena was invited too and she eyed her steak on its plastic plate distastefully and made a rather sour face. Judith noticed and just rolled her eyes. Calvin thankfully was oblivious, as he currently had Amelia and Jessica attached to his legs and was stomping around the garden pretending to be a giant. Felicia watched from her Bumbo seat and practiced clapping.

So I had been able to catch up on all the Compton family gossip at least. From Lorena I learned that Portia was stifling her poor son Glen and he was going to grow up to be a 'mummy's boy' if she didn't cut the apron strings soon, that Sarah needed to tell Matt it was his job to be the bread-winner in the family and threaten to throw him out if he didn't buck his ideas up, and that Caroline was 'almost definitely' coming back for Christmas this year and bringing her new boyfriend.

Later on, while we were doing the dishes I learned from Judith that Portia had been on the phone complaining that Lorena let Glen watch Harry Potter and now he had nightmares, that Lorena had tried to guilt Judith and Calvin into lending Sarah money, because the 'poor thing' was in a terrible state and needed our help (yeah, we'd all been there with Sarah), and that Caroline was definitely not coming back for Christmas because the boyfriend was shouting them a trip to Thailand, but no one wanted to tell Lorena if Caroline wasn't going to say it herself.

So basically, there was nothing new there.

No one mentioned Bill, but that wasn't new either. Even before the accident no one had much, because there wasn't a lot to say. He patently didn't want our help, and no one knew where he was half the time. I never thought I'd end up with a drug-addict for a husband.

I'd met Bill in my first year at university studying for a Bachelor of Commerce. I'd turned up for the first accounting tutorial to find it full of boys from good schools who took one look at me and decided I was so dumb it wasn't even worth listening to me. Except for Bill. He was a couple of years older than me, as he'd worked in an office for some time after leaving school in order to save up enough money for uni; Lorena certainly wasn't footing the bill.

He just seemed so mature and well, nice. I guess all those years of being the head of the household had made him grow up fast. No one had seen his dad since 1985. All Bill remembers is there was some sort of affair and Lorena threw him out in a fit of rage. For all I knew she'd buried him in the back garden.

But Bill certainly charmed me from the get-go. We did all the usual things you did at that age; went to movies, hung out with friends, went to parties. I'd never really had a boyfriend before, the kids at my school in South Auckland considered me stuck up and I struggled to find schoolboys interesting anyway. I loved having Bill as my boyfriend.

And then we graduated, got jobs. I worked in a bank branch; he worked on a computer helpline. We saved our money, went to the UK, travelled and earned pounds. We came back, got married, bought a nice house, and had a baby. So far, so much what I expected.

But then Bill changed. At first I thought it was just stress. He'd come home late, he'd stay up all night in his study 'working' on stuff. He wouldn't answer his cell phone to me, but he'd take calls from other people in the middle of the night. He'd say they were work ones. He'd go out for 'drives' in the weekend to 'clear his head'. He'd be gone for hours and I wouldn't be able to reach him.

I thought he was having an affair. I tore his study apart looking for evidence but what I found was worse. Drugs. Bill was using P. Despite all the stories in the paper about how this was the scourge of the nation and it could affect anyone and any family, I really hadn't thought that my nice, middle-class husband with the pleasant personality and the good job would fall prey to it. Guess he wasn't as grown-up as I thought he was.

I confronted him, he confessed. I tried to convince him to get treatment. He said he could work through it on his own. When his behaviour hadn't changed after a week, and I was pretty sure he was still using, I gave him an ultimatum. Stop using or move out. I was pregnant with Felicia and couldn't face the stress anymore.

He picked the drugs over his family and moved into a grotty flat in Onehunga. He'd turn up every so often to see Amelia, but he was hard to track down. I'd found out when he moved out that he'd lost his job and was surviving on doing the odd bit of contracting, when he was in a state to turn up to work.

Lorena of course pretended it wasn't happening and acted as though I'd driven my husband away by making unreasonable demands. He always was her golden boy.

By Christmas he was looking pale and tired and desperately in need of sleep. He turned up at 7pm on Christmas day and couldn't understand why Amelia was over the whole day and long past opening any presents. He made it to Felicia's birth, but had to be removed from the birthing suite by the midwife after his behaviour became erratic.

And so I decided to make a clean break. He came around to 'pick up some stuff' from his study and I told him in no uncertain terms to leave and not come back. I was done with it, and if he couldn't help himself then I didn't have the energy to help him anymore. The last thing I said was "Go fuck yourself Bill Compton."

A few days later we were told he'd been killed in a car crash just past Ngaruawahia, apparently coming back from Hamilton. I don't know why he'd been to Hamilton. And I don't know why some woman called Selah Pumphrey was in the car with him. And I don't know why he couldn't have just got the help he needed.

The funeral and everything after is a blur. Felicia was just so small that I couldn't really register what was going on. Judith and Calvin were a god send. Even Sarah managed to keep Lorena, who was looking as though she might throw herself into the grave at any minute, away from me so I could just get through it.

But it's getting better now. I'm pretty sure I'm getting over it. Just being out in the workforce again is doing wonders. And I have my girls, as crazy as they drive me. They may not have a father, but they have me, and they have their aunts, and cousins and even Lorena.

I finished off the weekend by packing up some of the baby clothes Felicia had grown out of. I knew that soon I'd have to put them on TradeMe; it was the sensible thing to do. After all, she was most likely my last baby ever. Who'd want me now? I was 34, a widow with two small children, and a heart that had been stomped all over by the only man I'd ever trusted. A man who obviously hadn't loved me enough.

**So there you go. Was it what everyone expected?**

**Taranaki is pronounced Ta-rah-nack-ee and it's a region in the central North Island.**

**Ngaruawahia is pronounced Nah-roo-a-wa-he-a (well, pretty much).**

**TradeMe is our equivalent of Ebay. NZers love a bargain and we love TradeMe. In many workplaces the site is banned.**

**P is the latest drug to make headlines here. I think the equivalent in the US would be crystal meth? Anyway, it's made from all the cold medicines so there are normally stories about how many packets of cold tablets people have tried to smuggle into NZ.**

**Bumbo seats (for those who don't know) are actually a South African designed thing, a small one pieced rubber seat that even babies who can't quite sit on their own can use. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N OK, I seem to be on a roll with this at the moment. So in the interests of moving things along, here's another chapter.**

**Disclaimer: The characters belong to Charlaine Harris, not me.**

SPOV

By the time Monday morning rolled around I was feeling pretty good about going back to work. The sun was shining, the kids were behaving and even Lorena looking like she'd stepped in dog poo didn't worry me (luckily Amelia was oblivious to her moods). I figured even Andre would surely be over his snit by now and it was all plain sailing unless I had to deal with Eric.

I was sitting at my desk for less than 10 minutes when Eric showed up looking rather stressed.

EPOV

After discovering that Sookie wasn't around on Friday I decided that I'd better get my ass into gear and do some sight-seeing on the weekend so I could at least tell Sophie-Anne I'd seen something. Hopefully she wouldn't want a detailed run-down from both Sookie and me.

So on Saturday, when the weather was warm, I walked down to the ferry terminal and took a ferry across to Devonport as Sookie had suggested. It actually felt pretty good to be out on the harbour I'd only been staring at for over a week now, but the trip across was all too short and I couldn't really see the point of Devonport. Probably wandering around by yourself wasn't really conducive to enjoying the atmosphere. I sat and looked at the water for a while, had a coffee and then caught the ferry back.

I considered going out that night, but after Thursday I wasn't sure I could face any more drunk Kiwi girls. They were a bit loud and obnoxious. So it was just me and Fantasy-Sookie in for the night then.

Sunday I trudged up to the casino and paid my money to go up the Sky Tower. Sookie was right, it was a rip off. The view was pretty good but again, it just a bit, well, lonely doing all this stuff by myself. I certainly couldn't see the point of hanging around to eat at one of the over-priced restaurants in the Sky Tower so I took the elevator back down and went for a bit of a walk around the central city. There wasn't a lot to see. The only other people around seemed to be students and a few people who'd come into the city to shop. I walked up to Albert Park and the university. It just looked like anywhere.

Feeling rather morose I headed back to the apartment, stopping at a bottle shop on the way. I had a feeling I was going to need more bourbon than they had in the mini bar to drown my sorrows. Deep down I was afraid that I'd blown all my chances with Sookie and she was never going to be mine. Fuck my life.

Monday morning I woke up late with a hangover. Not the best state to be in to confront Sookie. I had to get to her before Sophie-Anne asked if we'd had a nice weekend together.

I practically raced down Queen St and into the office, dumped my stuff in the meeting room and headed over to Sookie's desk. Thankfully she was there, but she hadn't been there long. She was still carrying a bowl of cereal and talking to Andre – something about some warriors. I wasn't really paying attention.

"Sookie" I said, trying to gauge what her reaction was going to be.

"Yes, Eric". She eyed me warily, but she didn't start up on another tirade of abuse. So far so good.

"Ummm. Can you come with me? I need to show you some of the numbers and see if they make sense with what you've been working on?"

"Oh. Well can it wait until I've finished eating breakfast?"

"Uh, no. I really need to get this sorted so I can keep going on the model." That sounded plausible, right?

"OK then." She sighed and stood up to follow me, picking the access card up off her desk, along with her notebook and pen.

Once we were in the main lobby area of the floor I pushed one of the buttons to call an elevator.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking a bit panicked. "I thought you had something to show me?"

"I interrupted your breakfast. I'll buy you coffee. We'll go downstairs."

"Can't we just get it over with quickly, so I can go back to my breakfast?" Shit, why was this so hard?

At that point the elevator in front of us opened and I placed my hand in the small of her back and sort of shoved her into it. I might have actually pushed quite hard. She wasn't going without a fight obviously.

"Eric!"

I just looked down at her and said "Look, I'm not trying to throw you over my shoulder and cart you off, OK? I just need to talk to you, and I'd prefer to do it outside the office….away from some of the other people who work upstairs".

That seemed to shut her up and when the elevator doors opened she followed me over to the counter of the coffee place without further comment. I ordered our coffees and we sat down.

"So what's so urgent then?" Sookie asked. She still looked a bit pissed off, but better than she had in the elevator.

I hadn't got this far in the planning. How did I tell her she was my imaginary lover and as far as Sophie-Anne was concerned we'd spent the weekend sight-seeing all over Auckland and probably been all over each other at night? Here goes.

"Ummm, you remember your sight-seeing thing? The one where you suggested I get Sophie-Anne to show me around?"

"Uh-huh"

"Well, she had the same idea and told me about it on Friday…"

"So you want suggestions of places you two could go?"

"No, not really…..Ummm, Sophie-Anne isn't exactly my type, and she isn't really getting that message…."

"Hang on, you're gay?"

"NO! That's not it". Just then the waitress arrived with our coffees and I took a moment to gather my thoughts.

"I just don't want to spend any time with Sophie-Anne outside work". Yep, that was true.

"Yeah, I can imagine that." Sookie was smiling at least now, so I gave her a half smile back. "So what is the problem Eric? I can't protect you from Sophie-Anne's attentions so I'm not sure what all this is about."

"I might have said something to Sophie-Anne about you taking me sight-seeing over the weekend…."

"You did or you didn't?"

"I did. I said we were going up the Sky Tower. It's OK, because I went by myself. You're right, it is a rip-off. But if she asks you just say that yes, we hung out at the weekend and had a great time." There that was it. That was all she had to do. It wasn't too much of an imposition surely?

Sookie burst out laughing.

"Oh Eric! You really think Sophie-Anne believed you? Why the hell would you have spent the weekend with me?"

OK this was annoying. "Because you asked me and I said yes. What's wrong with that? It's not totally ridiculous. You spent ages last week trying to sell me on Auckland's tourist spots."

"It's just...it's just not a picture I can see in my head. I can't see her buying it."

"Why the hell not?"

"Take my word for it, she'll see right through you." With that she sat back and took another sip of coffee as if the case was closed. What did she know that I didn't? More to the point, what did Sophie-Anne know that I didn't? She'd hired Sookie. Oh shit, Sookie was married.

"Sookie are you married? Is that why you think Sophie-Anne won't believe me?"

"No. I'm not. And I don't have anyone. Not these days anyway" And then her face shut down, she wasn't laughing anymore, she was staring into her coffee cup like it could tell fortunes.

She was hiding something. And whatever she was hiding made her sad. I didn't want her to be sad. But as much as I wanted to make her feel better again, the most pressing problem was her inexplicable belief that Sophie-Anne would have assumed I was lying.

"I still don't see what the problem is here" and I really didn't.

"OK, if I have to spell it out then fine". Uh-oh, she was starting to get the look in her eye she'd had when she'd yelled at me after the meeting last week. "You're….you" with that she sort of waved her arm in the air in front of her, "and I'm me. You're young and you're good-looking and I'm not. She would never understand why you would want to spend time with me. I wouldn't understand it either. So if she asks me anything outright, then fine, I'll fudge the truth for you, but don't you dare say anything else about us spending time together, I don't need to be laughed at."

Laughed at, who's laughing? I tried to come up with the right response for that. There were a large number of emotions floating around at the moment and I wasn't good at emotions. I tried to think of a compliment that didn't involve telling her she had great boobs.

"You have a great smile you know, when it's not your fake one."

"Hmmmm. Now you're just being nice because you don't want me to dob you in to Sophie-Anne."

"No, I really think that. And you don't look old. How old are you?"

"I don't think you're supposed to ask women their ages! But I'm 34. So see, that's definitely getting up there, especially compared to you!"

"But I'm 28, that's hardly much of a difference."

"It's a huge difference Eric. There are just…..too many huge differences." And we were back to the sad face again. Fuck.

After a minute or so of composing herself, Sookie obviously decided she was moving on. I was still trying to sort out what had happened.

"Right" she said "well at least did you enjoy yourself on our trip around Auckland?"

I told her what I'd done, but confessed that no; it pretty much sucked wandering around a strange city by yourself.

"I would imagine it would. Maybe they need homestays for consultants. I wonder if you could make any money in it?"

"Home-whats?"

"Homestays. Like they do for the international students. You know, they put them with a New Zealand family who are in charge of showing them around and helping them get settled in, but they're also supposed to participate as a member of the family. Do chores, stuff like that. I wonder how much a consulting firm would pay to billet their staff?" She smiled her genuine smile and looked pretty pleased with her idea.

"Sooo…..you'd let me stay with you?" Maybe she would?

"Phft. Not likely. I don't think I've ever seen a consultant do a day's work in their life, so you'd be useless at chores." She laughed and I figured at least we were good again.

Sookie stood up. "I've got to get back to it or Andre will go spare again. He really is a moody so and so. I'll help you out with this on this one occasion, but please don't go spouting off about me to Sophie-Anne again and no more telling Andre off on my behalf. I really really _really_ just want to keep a low-profile and get the work done, OK?"

"Yep, sure. I promise not to drag you into anything else."

"See you Eric" and with that she was off over to the elevators. Well, it went better than I hoped for. I was pretty sure we were friends now and I still had a couple of weeks working here before I finished up. Surely in that time I could win her over.

SPOV

As I travelled in the lift back to the office I thought, well OK, I think I'm friends with Eric again. Although he seems to be using me as some sort of shield against Sophie-Anne. Of course if she comes after me I'm just throwing him at her, I'm not getting involved in any of that drama at work.

I did feel sorry for him though. I can't remember the last time I'd met anyone who seemed so genuinely lost and lonely. It just goes to show that money and good looks don't bring you happiness I guess. I really wanted to help him, but I just didn't see how I could fit that into my life right now. I had to put my focus into me and making sure that I was OK, so that someone was there for the girls.

And then something occurred to me. I hadn't mentioned my kids. He'd asked if I was married and I'd said no, but I hadn't spilled anything about the people I did have in my life. Was I really just trying to avoid telling my story or did I want him to think I was available? Not that he would ever want me, but still.

Oh well, a couple more weeks and it wouldn't matter anyway. He'd leave here never to return.

I reached my desk to find Andre on the phone to his mate still banging on about the rugby league "I was at the Warriors game at the weekend and it was sensational! The final try…." I stopped listening and started to work.

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N A big thank you to everyone who is sticking with this story, and to those who are taking the time review. I am so very very flattered by the response!**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they belong to Charlaine Harris.**

SPOV

I was getting into the swing of getting everyone out the door and to their appointed locations now, so on Tuesday, Felicia and I arrived at Judith and Calvin's in plenty of time, having deposited Amelia at pre-school.

Calvin had already left for work and once again Judith was chasing Jessica around. That kid did not sit still. I wondered if that would rub off a bit on Felicia.

Judith finally caught Jessica and got her teeth brushed and came over to take Felicia out of my arms. Felicia flashed one of her big smiles at Aunty Judith; of the two kids, she was the one who looked most like me. She had big blue eyes and light-coloured fuzz all over her head. Amelia had been born with a full head of dark hair, now lightened to a pretty brown, and had cat-like green eyes with dark, dark eyelashes. To me they were the most beautiful kids in the world.

Judith stopped looking at Felicia and turned to me "Have you heard anything about Jacob's birthday?"

"No" I said "but I guess its coming, right?" Jacob was Sarah's eldest son and was turning 13 this Saturday. This meant that at about 9pm on Thursday night Sarah would phone in a mild state of panic. She would then apologise for leaving it so late, rattle off a list of excuses as to why she hadn't phoned earlier, say that the party was at 2pm on Saturday, and ask if we could bring some food for it as she was asking all the family to contribute. It was always the same. With all of her four kids. I often wondered how she ever managed to get organised enough to get them to school.

Judith asked what I'd bought him for a present. Oooh, present.

"Um, that's on my to-do list" I said "I'll try to get onto it today."

With that I said my good-byes and was out the door and off to the bus.

Andre wasn't around when I got to work which was nice. I switched on my pc, heading to the kitchen to get some cereal while it whirred to life, and got started. I didn't really have that many extracts left to run now. Even with the minor set-back over the fee reversals, it hadn't added a lot to my workload and Andre seemed to be getting the local data for Eric so I didn't have to worry about that. But it was month-end next week and Andre had said that he could find me something else to keep on with so I was around in case Eric needed anything else. The consultants were presenting their findings at the end of next week and then I was finished up here and I guess Eric would head back to the States.

Around 11.30am Eric suddenly appeared at my desk. I looked up at him; it was a long way up as he was so tall.

"Want to go to lunch?"

"What?" I answered, rather sharply. I didn't mean to be mean, but he'd kind of taken me by surprise.

"Do you want to go to lunch with me?" He asked again, slowly, while looking a bit exasperated.

"Oh. I have to go to The Warehouse at lunchtime, so I won't have time. Sorry." And I was sorry. It might have been nice to talk to Eric for a bit.

He frowned. "What warehouse?" I guess he was trying to figure out why a bank would have a warehouse.

"THE Warehouse. The shop. It's like….I don't know, Walmart? Lots of crappy stuff for sale and no atmosphere whatsoever. But cheap. I have to buy a present for…the son of a friend who's turning 13." Well, he was only my nephew by marriage and I didn't want to talk about the Comptons to Eric. It would lead to talking about other things that were definitely a closed book.

Eric looked thoughtful. "I could come with you?"

"Really? You want to spend your lunch-hour in The Warehouse?"

He shrugged. "I don't have anything else to do. It's a place I haven't seen before." He smiled.

"OK. Well, let's go then before it gets too busy. Sookie's tour of The Warehouse is about to depart now."

We took the lift down to the lobby and walked along the overbridge to the Downtown shopping centre, past some shops and up the escalators to the The Warehouse. This Warehouse was tiny, given that it was squeezed into the top of a central-city mall, but it was pretty much the same as The Warehouses that filled huge sheds all over the country. I could never really see the appeal in them, as the stock was always poorly displayed and half the time it was impossible to find what you wanted, but needs must, and if I was buying a present today this was pretty much it.

Of course I had no idea what I was going to get Jacob. Maybe Eric would be useful. "What do 13 yr old boys like?" I asked him.

"Porn" he said immediately.

"Euw. Eric! That's really inappropriate. He's 13!"

He shrugged. "But it's probably true."

"Well I can hardly buy him a copy of Playboy or anything. What else? What about one of those guns that shoot water at people?"

"Nah, he's too old for that". Eric was now looking around as if this was the most fascinating place in the entire world. I was pretty sure they had better stores in the States.

OK, maybe he wasn't going to be that helpful. I tried again "Any other suggestions?"

"Skateboard"

"He lives in a house in the bush in Titirangi, with a steep gravel driveway and no footpaths anywhere around. It would be a waste of money."

"Cell phone"

"Too expensive."

"Video game"

Oooh, that could work. I remembered he'd got a Playstation the previous Christmas. Sarah had found the money for that somehow. "Good idea, but which one?"

So we headed over to the section with the games and tried to agree on one. I had to keep steering Eric away from anything that was rated 16 and above. I wasn't completely sure that Sarah would have objected to it, but he wasn't my kid and I didn't want to assume anything. Eventually we found one that involved skateboarding, so that seemed to fit the bill.

I grabbed a birthday card and some paper and headed to the checkout. There was a special on boxes of nappies that was pretty good, but grabbing one of those would have opened up a whole other can of worms. I was actually having a good time hanging out with Eric; I'd forgotten how nice it can be to just spend time with an adult male, even one who had weird ideas about appropriate presents for children.

So when Eric asked if I thought I still had time to get lunch in the Foodcourt with him, I said, sure, as long as we weren't too long. We agreed on sushi and after making our selections we took a seat.

EPOV

I wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but somehow my plan to get Sookie to have lunch with me had ended up with me accompanying her to some God-awful store to buy a kid's birthday present. Why she thought I'd be able to help her choose, I had no idea. It was actually hard work coming up with the suggestions for her, and her idea had sucked.

But in the end I'd come up with something suitable and Sookie was pretty grateful. That felt good. Even better she'd agreed to stay and have lunch with me. We had a pretty good time, just eating and talking about movies and books and shit. No weird emotional undercurrent this time.

When we got back to the office she patted me on the arm and said "Thanks for the help Eric".

"Anytime Sookie"

With that she turned and headed into her office. I watched her walk away. Well, mostly I watched her ass, which was looking rather fetching in a tight black skirt. Things were going well, and if we continued on this track by Thursday I could ask her for a drink after work, and then she'd be mine for the weekend.

SPOV

Wednesday flew through in a blur pretty much. The drive to Tara's wasn't as bad this week without the rain. I had lots to keep me busy at work. Eric and I had lunch again, and it was nice. With him, there was no baggage and I could be the me I used to be, the me who laughed at stupid jokes, and told stupid stories without people saying "Isn't she coping _well_?", or, even worse "Shouldn't she still be mourning him?"

Thursday morning I was working away when Sophie-Anne appeared at my desk. Apparently she'd been in an off-site for the previous three days, which is why, I guess, Andre had been MIA for most of the time too. She gave me a rather scary looking smile.

"So, Sookie" she began, doing her best to appear friendly "I haven't seen you yet this week. Did you have a nice weekend?"

Uh oh, she was digging. "Yes I did, thanks. And you?" I really didn't want to lie. Lies led to more problems, as I figured Eric was about to find out.

She pressed on. "I found the Sky Tower horribly over-priced, but I take it you and Eric enjoyed it?"

"Well, you do get a lovely view on a clear day like last Saturday." There, that wasn't a lie at all. I decided to change the subject. "I've nearly finished the work for Eric, but I think Andre said he had some other stuff I could do, so just let me know if you have anything as well."

Sophie-Anne just stared at me, like she was waiting for me to confess some dreadful crime, and I just stuck on a big fake smile and stared back. Obviously realising she wasn't getting anything else out of me, she murmured "Of course Sookie, I'll see what needs doing" and with that she turned on her heel and stalked off. I hoped that was the end of it.

EPOV

Thursday morning I was alone in the meeting room, Indira and Chow having gone out for coffee, when Sophie-Anne suddenly appeared in front of me. "Eric" she said, obviously not feeling like exchanging pleasantries, "how is the model working out?"

Phew, she wasn't asking for details of the weekend. "It's nearly finished. I've pretty much got all the data, there's just a couple of things I've asked Sookie to re-run, and now I just have to analyse the numbers and come up with some options and recommendations to present next Friday."

"Good. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you have to show us. I'm sure it will be enlightening."

She started to walk out of the room. Thank fuck, I was off the hook.

"Oh, and Eric, did you have a nice weekend with Sookie?"

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. "Umm, yes, the weekend was fine, thanks…" I hoped that was vague enough to put her off. I wondered if she'd already spoken to Sookie.

"So the Sky Tower was good then?"

"Yeah, it was good. Great views, but a lot of money though."

"Mmmm" Sophie-Anne said, looking as though she was considering something. Why would the bitch not just leave me alone? "I guess it would have been expensive. What with Sookie's kids and everything." And with that she stalked off.

I just kept staring at the spot where she'd been standing. Fuck. Sookie was a MOM? I couldn't believe it, why had she not told me? Of course, the present. It must have been for her son. No wonder she'd seemed so sad the other day, some fucker had got her pregnant and left her. It suddenly all made sense.

I ran my hand through my hair and thought about what to do next. I had to find out for sure. I was actually, I don't know, feeling hurt that she hadn't told me. I thought we were friends.

I left the meeting room and started walking towards the office Sookie was in. I wasn't sure how I was going to do this but I had to subtle, I got the impression that if I came on too strong she'd just run away. Or yell at me. Or yell at me then run away. None of which were great outcomes.

I reached her desk and thankfully she was sitting there. "Hi Sookie" I said, to get her attention. I had so much pent-up nervous energy that I was practically hopping from foot to foot. I hoped she wouldn't notice that.

"Oh, hi Eric! How's it going?"

"Um, great. Hey, do you want to go for coffee? Or a meeting? Or a coffee meeting?" I was rambling slightly, this wasn't good.

"Oh, yeah, that would be great!" she gave me one of her lovely smiles and turned to get her access card.

On the way down in the elevator she chattered about Andre, and how he was buying a house now with his girlfriend, so spent all his time looking at real estate websites and trying to arrange viewings, but had to pretend it was all work related when anyone showed up. I wasn't really listening.

We ordered coffees and sat down. "So what's up Eric?" she said "You seem a bit quiet."

OK, I had to ask. Subtly, I had to ask.

"You have a son" I blurted out. OK, not subtle.

Sookie looked confused. "No, I don't. Where did you get that idea?"

"The present we were buying. That was for your son. Sophie-Anne said you had a kid". Actually, I suddenly realised, she'd said _kids_, how many were there? And how many fuckwads had just abandoned her with their offspring? What did they know that I didn't?

"Look Eric, you've got the wrong end of the stick. The present was definitely for my nephew. I don't have a son." She paused and looked down at her hands. "But I do have two daughters." She said the last part so quietly I almost didn't hear.

"Oh."

"Yeah"

"Why haven't you mentioned them?"

"Ummm, I don't know exactly. I think, well, it's just, it's kind of nice not be just a mother for a while, you know? No, you don't I guess. But trust me it is. And it's not like I've kept them completely secret, I was telling Karen all about them the other day…."

"So it's just me you didn't tell?"

"You and some other people, like, ummm…Andre…"

Great I was level with Andre on this one. The waitress brought our coffees and I stared out at the harbour. I couldn't look at Sookie at the moment. I was feeling like shit and I was worried that I might say that to her. Fuck that.

"Eric?"

"What?" I turned to look at her and she just stared at me with her huge blue eyes, which were starting to tear up. Fuck. I wanted to run. Or hug her and tell her I still liked her. I wasn't really sure.

"I'm sorry. Look I tried to tell you the other day that there were…differences between us. And that's the big one. I'm a mum. I have two kids. Their names are Amelia and Felicia, and they're 3 and 8 months. I love them very much."

"What about their father?" Or fathers.

Sookie sighed, and got that sad look again. Hah, I knew it was some fucker from her past who made her that sad. I was absurdly pleased to realise that it wasn't me.

"He's dead. And I don't want to talk about it anymore." With that she stood up and walked off, leaving her coffee untouched on the table between us.

I finished my coffee and headed back to the office. Somewhere deep down I not only wanted to make it better for her, but I wanted her to want me to make it better for her. Only I didn't know how I could do that.

So I kept away from her for the rest of Thursday while I tried to figure it out. Before I realised it, it was 5.30pm and Sookie would have left for the day. And I wouldn't see her again until next Monday. FUCK! I banged my fist on the desk, fighting back the urge to throw my laptop against the window. It didn't seem to matter how many plans I made, I just couldn't catch a break.

Friday there was no Sookie, but I did have an email. From Victor. Telling me he was happy for me to take extended leave and stay in New Zealand, and to just contact his PA, Sandy, and she'd arrange to change the date on my return ticket. Fucking great. Now I was going to be stuck in New Zealand with no Sookie and no plan. Things were just getting worse.

**So, yes. They still haven't sorted themselves out yet, but at least Eric knows about the kids.**

**Titirangi is pronounced Tit-eh-rang-ee. Sort of. It's actually really hard to write some of these out phonetically!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I know I keep saying this but wow! You guys are awesome.**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, they're Charlaine Harris'.**

SPOV

I felt like shit over the whole scene with Eric, and I hated him for making me feel that way. Well, I didn't hate him really. But I was pissed off at least.

Why did he have to go and run his mouth off to Sophie-Anne in the first place? If he'd just kept his mouth shut, none of this would have happened. And we could have kept on being friends until it was time for us both to leave.

And if I was being really honest with myself, I'd liked the fact that I felt like a woman again when I was around him. A vaguely attractive woman. I'd caught him checking me out a couple of times; he seemed particularly interested in my cleavage. I wasn't above sticking my chest in his direction either, just to see what reaction I got. It was intensely flattering to have someone that good looking showing even a modicum of interest in me. I knew that it was only because he was lonely, and I knew that it was never going to go anywhere. I wasn't going to let it go anywhere. But it was nice and safe. I could flirt just a smidge with him, and it made me feel good. I didn't realise just how desperate I'd been to feel good again.

So on Thursday I sat and pondered whether I should go back and talk to him again, but I couldn't think of a thing to say to him to make it better. Sorry I had a life before I met you? Sorry I'm not as available as you thought I was? Sorry I'm not up for a one-night stand in your horribly expensive hotel room? Yeah, that wasn't going to work. I was just going to have to leave it. He'd go back to the States, I'd go back to being a mother full-time and I'd just have to be happy with the fact that, for a short time at least, Eric Northman was interested in me.

If only I'd had the foresight to take a photo of the two of us on my phone to show Tara.

So I went about the usual chores on Friday, hoping that Eric was OK and hadn't been pressured into doing anything horrible by Sophie-Anne. She was scary.

Saturday we piled in the car and headed off to Sarah's place in Titirangi for the party. It was pretty dire. We arrived at 2.30pm and nothing was ready. Jacob seemed to appreciate his present, but spent the time with his friends playing Playstation as a consequence, and couldn't have cared less if his family was there. His younger sister Stella, who was 11, sulked as no one paid attention to her. Sarah disappeared outside to have a 'smoke' with her adult friends and so the food was delayed, and further delayed when Matt didn't have any gas for the barbecue and had to go out and refill the bottle.

Judith and I ended up supervising all the small kids (Amelia, Jessica and Sarah's youngest two, Briana and Jaden), and making sure they didn't kill each other. Then Portia arrived, with Glen and Lorena in tow. Glen stole food while no one was looking, Calvin told him off, and Portia yelled at Calvin, before storming off in tears because 'everyone hates' her. Calvin refused to apologise and Judith got mad with him, as she'd be subjected to Portia's tearful phone calls during the week. Lorena asked if the food was ready yet every five minutes, but looked disgusted at what was finally offered.

I was exhausted by the time we got home at 6.30pm.

I wondered what Eric had been doing and if he was actually getting out and enjoying himself. And then I stupidly wondered if he'd managed to find someone to have a one-night stand with and felt insanely jealous. It was an emotion I hadn't felt in a while, and I guess it beat my usual Saturday night bought of crying into my pillow.

Sunday we went to the park so Amelia could show off her skills on the swing and generally be in charge of all the activities, and then we went to hang out with Tara and her kids in the afternoon. Amelia adored Charlotte, who was 8 and therefore at the height of sophistication, so they disappeared off to Charlotte's bedroom. Tara's son Lachlan busied himself on the computer, and JB stuck his head in the door and went back to mowing the lawn. That left just me, Tara and Felicia.

"So, how's the job?" Tara asked, while making us each a cup of tea.

"Yeah, alright. It's about what I expected for a contract job. Pretty boring."

"Do you think they'll extend the contract?"

"Not this time. But they might have something else in the future. To be honest, if I was going back to work for any length of time I'd need to have better childcare, have Felicia in daycare properly. Driving her all over Auckland gets me down. But if did that, then the cost goes up and the money isn't as good. So it's hard. But I do like the me-time! Does that make me a bad mother?"

"No, it makes you a normal human being, Sookie. How are you getting on with the consultant, anyway, the American one?"

"Fine. He's OK, for a Yank. He's bought me coffee and stuff. But he's finishing up next week when I do too." I wasn't going into Thursday's drama with Eric. That was too hard to explain without coming off like a lovesick schoolgirl with a crush on the star of the 1st XV.

So we moved on to other subjects, reminiscing about our time at university and the holidays we'd been on to her family's bach at Piha.

I hadn't been home long from Tara's before the phone rang. It was Lorena. Of course it was. She had a nasty stomach bug and couldn't have the kids the next day. Bugger.

So on Monday morning I had to call Andre and tell him I wasn't coming in to work for family reasons, which everyone knows is code for 'I have to stay home and look after my kids'.

I spent the rest of the day on automatic-pilot, repeating the same phrases over and over: "Please pick up your stuff", "Bob is not a toy cat", "No, you can't have a marshmallow", "For God's sake, just leave your sister ALONE!". I spent far too much time wondering if Eric noticed I wasn't there. I spent even more time wishing he was here so I could talk to him.

EPOV

Friday was pretty miserable. No Sookie of course, and I still hadn't figured out what to do next with her. The new plan was no plan. I got as far as thinking maybe I could call her at home, but of course, there were no listings for Stackhouse in the on-line phone book. Just fucking great.

So I was feeling pretty low about the whole debacle and dreading the weekend when Chow asked me if I'd like to come out with him and Indira on a drive out to the West Coast beaches. I must have been feeling like shit because I said yes.

So by 10am Saturday morning I was crushed into the back of their rental car listening to the GPS give Chow directions and Chow swear to himself every time he missed a turnoff. Indira stayed stoically silent. It was like being a kid again, I guess, sitting in the back of the car while going on a trip with your parents. Except of course, that I never went anywhere with my parents as a kid.

So I resigned myself to looking out the window at the bush as we drove past (although I couldn't get comfortable with this driving on the left-hand side thing, that was a bit fucked up). And when we got to our destination, I resigned myself to trudging along the black sand beaches, looking at the wild surf and watching the surfers eyeing up the waves.

At Piha, we climbed something called Lion's Rock. I couldn't see any resemblance to a lion. The path was pretty steep and I played the part of recalcitrant teenage son terrifically by hanging well back from Chow and Indira and looking like I hated the whole experience. They were enjoying themselves immensely and I just felt empty. I wondered what Sookie was doing now. Probably something with her kids I guess. Whatever it was you did with kids.

When we got back to the hotel I was looking forward to raiding the mini bar. Or maybe I could try that bottle shop again. Chow obviously thought the day had been fucking awesome, as he invited me to go with them again on Sunday. Indira said nothing, but sort-of gave him a look. Yeah, I might have pissed her off a bit. But I couldn't face another day alone by myself so I said, fine, great, let's do it.

Sunday's big outing was to some place called Ponsonby that we probably could have walked to if Auckland had been a flat city. The hills were a bitch though. So we drove, then had to drive around for a while looking for parking. Apparently the rest of Auckland came here for brunch on a Sunday too. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I got through brunch and that was as much as I could handle. I could see Indira working herself up to start a long stretch of hitting the boutiques and I wasn't holding her handbag for her. I told Chow I'd walk back to the hotel and left them to it.

I got as far as a bar in Albert Street. And then that was me for the afternoon. Luckily the walk back to the hotel was mainly downhill from there, and there's fuck all traffic in Auckland on a Sunday night, because I couldn't remember which way I was supposed to look when crossing the road.

Monday morning I crawled out of bed and realised I looked like shit. Worse still, I cared that Sookie was going to see me looking like shit. Still, there wasn't much I could do about that now. So I dragged my ass into the office and put a couple of hours work in.

Around 10.30am I decided that if I was ever going to talk to Sookie again, I had to get it over with. I went downstairs, bought two coffees, and headed back up to her office. Only her desk looked like it did on Friday. No Sookie.

"Andre, where's Sookie?" I asked. He turned to look at me, looked pointedly at the two cups of coffee I was holding and said "Not here. Couldn't come in. Family problems apparently." And then he turned back to his screen, but made the fatal mistake of muttering "Fucking part-time _mothers_" just loud enough for me to hear. I saw red. I lunged forward and both cups of coffee landed in his lap. "What the FUCK!" he said jumping up.

"Oops, I tripped" I said for the benefit of those in the office watching with interest. For Andre's benefit alone I lent down and hissed "And if you ever fucking insult Sookie again I will fucking end you, got it?" He just nodded.

I walked away. Well at least something good came out of that. God, I hoped Sookie was back tomorrow.

**OK, so 1st XV (or First Fifteen) would be the top rugby team in the school, as rugby teams have 15 players. Similarly the top cricket team is the 1st XI.**

**Bach (pronounced batch) is what we call a holiday house. Unless you're from parts of the South Island, where it's called a crib, but they're a bit odd down there :-) It comes from the word bachelor because it's popularly believed that the first usage related to the huts that men who, say, went off to work in logging stayed in while they were away. Originally most bachs were pretty basic, normally one or two rooms. Nowadays it's possible to have a huge, expensive holiday home and still call it a bach. We all aspire to have our own bach one day, but then we have a lot of coastline here, so there's always hope.**

**Auckland is hilly. Well, actually most of them are volcanos. But we're pretty sure they're extinct.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Thanks for everyone for sticking with this story, because they're a frustrating pair. This chapter has something for the Australasians; it's the first Tuesday in November...**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, but belong to Charlaine Harris.**

SPOV

Tuesday morning went OK until I did Amelia's hair. As I was struggling to get the pigtails to look even slightly straight, she suddenly said "Daddy used to do my hair for me." Yep, he did. I don't know whether it was having all those sisters, but Bill was a lot better at doing Amelia's hair than me, although unfortunately his need for perfection used to clash with Amelia's need as a 2 year old to run around the place randomly.

It was hard to know what to do when Amelia came out with stuff like this. I wanted her to remember Bill. I wanted her to remember the good things about Bill. But I knew that one day she'd want more details about where Daddy went. So all I said was "Yes, he used to like doing your hair very much" and left it at that.

After dropping Amelia off, we got to Judith and Calvin's in good time. Jessica was sitting still for once, staring at something on TV. "Have you heard how your mum is?" I asked Judith.

She sighed. "I offered to take her to the doctor yesterday, but she said she was fine. I think most of it is that she's upset because she had a fight with Portia in the car on the way back from the party on Saturday. From what I gather, Mum said that Glen needed to play some sports in order to toughen up, and Portia let fly at her, saying she knew nothing about raising children as she'd done a terrible job with us and that she was just a mean, bitter old woman. So they're not talking now. I think they're just too alike sometimes. But as much of a pain as Mum is, she's still Mum, and Portia should have just shut up and nodded."

"Oh, yeah. That doesn't sound good at all. Poor Glen having to listen to that." I hope to God Amelia or Felicia never turned on me like that.

"Yep, poor Glen. Although I've had both of them bitching to me on the phone about it, so poor me as well. I don't want to be involved, but Caroline is never here and Sarah is far too self-involved, so I'm stuck trying to be the peace-maker."

Yeah, poor Judith. She'd inherited that role from Bill. I hope she coped with it better.

I left Judith to it. If nothing else having Felicia and Jessica for the day was going to keep her busy. If I thought it was hard to keep Amelia from getting in Felicia's face all the time, it was ten times worse with a 20 month old Jessica, who was just fascinated with her baby cousin who couldn't move yet. Felicia really needed to start crawling soon.

As much I was worried about seeing Eric today, or not seeing Eric, I couldn't decide what would be worse, I was also pretty pleased to be going to work. And the reason for that was that it was Melbourne Cup Day. I wasn't a gambler at all, but I loved Melbourne Cup Day at work. There was something about the office sweep and then all standing around the TV hoping your horse came somewhere. It was a hell of a lot more fun that watching it at home by yourself. Or, even worse, trying to watch with someone who just moaned that Dora the Explorer wasn't on instead.

So when I got to my desk I was pleased to see that Andre was setting up to run the sweep. Of course he was, who else would have the time?

"Mornin' Sookie" he said "everything alright?"

"Yeah, fine" I wasn't going into the drama with my mother-in-law. Let him think what he wanted.

"So" he said "do you want first pick at the sweep?"

Yes I did. I dug a $2 coin out of my bag (not easy when it was full of snacks, empty wrappers, tissues and half a packet of baby wipes), and handed it over. Andre passed over the container with the slips of paper in it and I rummaged around and picked one out of the middle. I unfolded it and peered at the name, then looked at the list of horses Andre had cut out of the morning's Herald. I read the brief run-down they gave on my horse's chances. Yeah, it had no chance.

"They should have named it dog food." I grumbled and sat back down. Andre just laughed and headed off to see who wanted to participate in the sweep.

I busied myself with some work for month-end that Andre had given me. I guess one of us had to be doing something. I saw Sophie-Anne swan past in a very expensive looking green skirt suit and a hat. A real hat with feathers and everything. Wow. Was that an Australian thing, dressing up for Melbourne Cup day?

Andre came back to his desk to drop off a load of cash. He now seemed to be running several sweeps at a range of different prices. He nodded in Sophie-Anne's direction and said "They're off to the races at Ellerslie today. Peter's taking all the managers as a thank you for their hard work this year." He sounded bitter. I guess sitting at a racecourse drinking champagne was better than being here. But maybe not if you had to sit there with Sophie-Anne. Andre headed off again to see if the Executive Assistants or administration staff wanted horses in the sweep.

I sighed. I thought about going to see Eric, or emailing him, but I still didn't know what to say. Maybe he'd turn up to get a horse in the sweep?

EPOV

Tipping the coffee on Andre made me feel good for about 10 minutes, and then I started to worry what would happen if Sookie found out? I guess we'd be back to finger-pointing and calling me 'mate', although at least she'd be talking to me then.

After that I had to really get down to work as the presentation was Friday and I needed to pull it together so I wasn't going to make a complete dick of myself. Thinking about Sookie was going to have to wait.

About 8pm I shut down my laptop and sighed. The sun was setting over the harbour and it looked beautiful out there. It occurred to me that maybe my new plan should involve something other than trying to sleep with Sookie. It was looking less and less likely that it was going to happen anyway.

I'd spent some of the weekend (the part when I was sober, anyway) trying to sort out how to get out of the leave that Victor had now agreed to, without sounding like a girl who couldn't make up her mind over a pair of shoes. I guess if I couldn't think of something to tell Victor, I was staying here for a bit longer.

I left the office and headed up Queen St, but walked straight past the side street that led to the hotel. I kept going and walked all the way up to the Border's that was near the cinemas. I headed to the travel section and started pulling off guidebooks to New Zealand. OK, I was going to do this. I was going to spend some time in New Zealand and sort my shit out. I couldn't go on drifting through life and Sookie hadn't turned out to be the answer like I thought she would be. And who knew? Maybe there were girls like Sookie all over New Zealand.

So I'd pretty much decided to give up on the whole Sookie thing completely, well, the rational part of my brain had. Another part of me obviously hadn't which is why I found myself standing in front of her desk on Tuesday morning.

She looked up and said "Hi Eric, how are you?" That was promising. She smiled at me, which was even better.

"I'm OK" and I was. "Coffee?" I asked. She stood up followed me out of the office to the elevators.

She wasn't saying anything so I guess I had to start. "I, uh, did some more sight-seeing in the weekend…"

"Did Sophie-Anne make you go out with her?"

"No, she seems to be leaving me alone now. I went with Chow and Indira. It was…OK." Well, probably not so much for them being stuck with me.

"What did you see?"

"Umm, some beaches. Mainly Piha, I think it was. I climbed Lion Rock"

"Oh, wow. I haven't done that for years. I'm really glad you're finally seeing a few places."

By this stage we were at the counter and I ordered. We sat down. Conversation seemed to lapse for a bit.

"So" I began again, "you're a mom." Oh, that probably wasn't smart.

"No, Eric I'm not." Sookie looked stern. I must have looked confused. I thought we'd had this conversation? She continued "I'm a New Zealander, Eric. If I'm anything, I'm a mum. Use the right term!" And then she broke into one of those lovely big smiles of hers. Excellent. Sassy-Sookie was back.

I laughed. "Fine, fine, you're a mum then. Do you like being a mum?"

She blew out a breath. "Well it's hard to say really. I mean sometimes it's great and sometimes it's the hardest thing in the world. It's just…it's so much a part of me now that it's hard to say how I feel about it. I guess it's like asking if you like being tall. Do you like being tall?"

I shrugged. "I guess it's OK. Sometimes it's a pain in the ass. I never really think about it."

"Yeah, see. It's a bit like that. It just…is. I find it hard to analyse it. I guess if you ever have kids you'll find out. I take it you don't have any kids?"

"No. Definitely not. I, uh, think I'd suck totally at being a parent." Yep, I doubted my ability to keep a pot plant alive.

"Oh, you'd be surprised. None of us are really prepared for it. It's scary but wonderful and then you forget you ever didn't have kids."

The coffees arrived and Sookie asked me how the work was going.

"It's alright; I think I should be able to pull it all together for Friday."

"So are you looking forward to heading back to the States?"

"Well, I was going to tell you, I'm not heading straight back. My boss agreed to me having some leave and staying here to look around. I think he's worried that I might get burn-out and, I don't know, sue them for workplace stress or some shit like that."

Sookie burst out laughing. "That's so American! We always think you're suing each other for crazy stuff like coffee that's too hot. So are you at risk of burn-out then?"

No, don't want to talk about me. "Um, not really. Well I don't think so, it's just I guess I don't know if I want to do this anymore."

Sookie just said "Oh" and let the subject drop. "Well, if you want any help planning your trip, let me know, OK?"

"Sure".

SPOV

I was so glad Eric had asked me for coffee. Despite his attempts to talk to me about motherhood, which was not something I could really explain, we were having fun.

"So, was Andre OK this morning?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. He was muttering about you being off work yesterday was all." Eric looked guilty.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. Nothing much. I just told him to…you know, cut it out." I eyed him sceptically. Definitely looking guilty. Yep, he'd done more than that. Still, as far as I could tell Andre wasn't holding a grudge against me, the worst he might have done is sabotage my pick for the Melbourne Cup sweep. That reminded me.

"Speaking of Andre, have you picked your horse for the sweep yet?"

"My what for the what?" Oh yeah, this was new for him.

"It's the Melbourne Cup today. The big horse race. There's an office sweep, which Andre is running because he's bugger all use for anything else. You need to pick a horse or else it won't be any fun when we all watch it at 5pm."

"Oh, OK. But isn't Melbourne in Australia? Why is it big here?"

"It just is. Think of it as an Australasian thing. Lots of Kiwi horses and trainers go over there and compete, and it's something like the biggest purse of any race in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a big deal and they have it live on TV here. It's just tradition. But the office sweep is fun."

"But it's in Australia. I thought you guys didn't like anything Australian?"

"Well some of them are pretty awful" I thought of Sophie-Anne "but mostly it's just a rivalry over sport and stuff. Like when the All Blacks play the Wallabies."

"Huh?"

"Rugby Eric. When we play them at rugby. Also their accent is annoying."

"_Their_ accent?"

What was he getting at? "You think we sound the same? You think I sound like Sophie-Anne?" I may have been getting a bit shrill at this point. No way did I sound anything like her.

Eric shrugged. "I can't tell the difference."

I huffed. "Well there is one. We just need to get her to say fish and chips and you'll see."

"Why fish and chips?"

"It's the classic test. See to them, we say it as fush and chups. To us, they sound like they're saying feesh and cheeps. So it's completely different."

He still looked a bit dubious. "So you're saying it's really easy to spot the difference in accent?"

"Oh yeah, it's completely obvious."

He smirked. "So, you could tell that Indira is Canadian then?"

She was? That was news. I had no clue. "Of course I could! We love Canadians. They're part of the Commonwealth. Not like you guys at all."

Eric just laughed. I figured he was onto me but I wasn't admitting I was bluffing.

"So, back to the office then to get you a horse?" We stood up and started walking towards the lifts.

"I still don't see what the big deal is."

"Just go with it Eric. Trust me, it will be fun. Anyway, you're a bloke. You're supposed to want to bet on things."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a bloke Sookie. I'm an American. If I'm anything, I'm a guy. Use the correct term."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" I said, giggling. "You're also not as funny as you think you are!"

Eric laughed. OK, he was pretty funny.

We got back to my desk and found Andre still had a few horses left, but only in the $5 sweep. Eric handed his money over and picked. I grabbed the piece of paper out of his hand and looked up what horse he had. "Oooh, Eric. Your horse has a real chance of winning! You might win the sweep!"

He shrugged and stuck the slip of paper in his pocket. "I guess I'd better get back to my presentation."

"Yeah. I'll see you at 5pm then. We're all watching the race on the TV by the kitchen."

"Yep. See you then."

I watched him walk off. It was a prety good view. I was going to miss not having him to look at.

EPOV

I really couldn't figure out why Sookie was quite so excited about this whole Melbourne Cup thing, but her enthusiasm for it made her whole face light up and she looked beautiful.

So I handed my money to Andre, which just felt wrong, but Sookie seemed excited about the horse I'd picked. If nothing else I'd get to see her at 5 to watch the race.

The rest of the day passed in a blur as I worked flat out on the presentation. I lost track of time a bit and it was just after 5pm when I arrived by the TV and moved through the crowd of people to get to Sookie.

"Oh good, you're here" she said. "They're about to start." She had a plastic glass of wine in her hand. Andre seemed to be handing them around and passed one to me, I eyed it suspiciously.

"Oh Eric, it's not poisoned!" Sookie whispered. I took a sip. It was warm though.

The race started. I leaned down and whispered in Sookie's ear "Which horse is yours?"

She snorted. "The one at the back. I think it's looking for the glue factory. Hey, but yours is doing well."

Sookie was really into this. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet willing my horse to go faster and take the field. It created a rather interesting effect as her breasts bounced up and down as well. I watched for a while, but realised I'd better look back at the TV if I wasn't going to end up with an erection while watching a horse race.

As the horses went into the final straight, Sookie gave up bouncing and started jumping up and down. That was really hard to ignore. I threw back the rest of the warm wine and tried to think about less interesting things. I looked up and noticed Andre was staring at Sookie too. He caught my eye and looked away. Fucker.

I'd lost track of the race totally at that point and the next thing I knew Sookie was clutching my arm and saying "Yay! Eric, your horse won! You won the sweep!"

"Oh, wow. Terrific." I said. Was that it? No more bouncing?

Andre appeared and handed me some cash. Huh. I had won.

"So, Sookie. I seem to have come into some money. Can I, uh, buy you a drink?" Maybe we could find a sports bar and there'd be more bouncing.

"Oh, I have to get back. Sorry. I would have loved to, but, you know, my sister-in-law has already collected my daughter from preschool so I could stay here later and I need to get going so she doesn't have the kids for too long."

Oh yeah. The kids. I sighed. And then I had an idea. "Are you coming to the drinks on Friday? The ones for the end of the project we've been doing? I think the bank is shouting for everyone, and they should include you too."

"Andre did mention them last week. I don't normally work Fridays of course, but yeah, if I can get a babysitter I'll come into town for them. And you can buy me a drink then. Well, I guess the bank is paying, so we can have a drink anyway."

"Great, we'll do that then."

"See you tomorrow Eric."

"See you Sookie." And with that she was off to collect her stuff and head home. I headed back to keep working and tried not to pin my hopes too much on anything happening on Friday.

**So, hope everyone liked that. They're getting along OK. Eric, visual creature that he is, got to see some bouncing. And they have the drinks on Friday to look forward to.**

**Ellerslie is the racecourse in Auckland. They hold races there on the day of the Melbourne Cup and then show the cup race live on TV as well. I have been there on that day with my work and it was so much better than a day in office. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

EPOV

Between working on the presentation and sorting out some details for my trip I was pretty busy for the next couple of days at work. I didn't get a chance to talk to Sookie on Wednesday, but I made sure I had time to meet for coffee on Thursday, conscious that it was her last day in the office. I was actually kind of excited about the planning I'd been doing, and wanted to tell Sookie. And, I guess, there was still some hope that she might…I don't know, invite me to stay with her. Or at least call in to see her. I knew, of course, that if I did go to see her she'd have her kids there. But I struggled to picture it. I just had no visual of what that would be like. I did have pretty fucking awesome visuals of Sookie taking off her clothes and offering herself to me though.

So on Thursday we sat down in the coffee place in the lobby and I went over my plans for the trip. I was going to hang around Auckland over the weekend, I'd even got as far as booking a trip out on the harbour for Sunday, and on Monday morning I was going to pick up a hire car and head south; first stop somewhere called Rotorua, which was apparently a geothermal area with a heap of hot pools and lots of other activities. Of course Sookie in a bikini would have made the hot pools pretty spectacular, but I couldn't tell her that. After Rotorua, I was just going to keep heading south until I reached Wellington. I hadn't really figured that bit out so much yet, but was just going to go where the mood took me.

Sookie seemed fairly positive about the plan, and told me that I'd better not end up in one of those crashes that apparently lots of tourists have here, where they forget what side of the road to drive on and cross the centre line. Yeah, that was going to take focus.

"And don't forget Mt Eden" she said.

"Forget what?"

"Mt Eden. Remember I told you the views were just as good as the Sky Tower? So you should go and have a look. You can drive up to the top, just be careful of the tourist buses. I live right near there and on a sunny day all you can see is the sun glinting off the tour buses that are parked at the top."

She looked serious for a moment. "Eric, can I ask you something?" Oh, here it goes. She was going to ask me to stay with her, or visit, or whatever. "Have you been tipping people while you're here?"

What? She obviously mistook my complete confusion for guilt, because she continued. "You know you don't have to do that, don't you? Not unless the service is absolutely amazing. Tipping's not really a big thing in New Zealand, so don't get sucked in just because you're a tourist."

OK. I was annoyed because I'd misread the situation and so I guess I took it out on Sookie a bit. "Jesus, Sookie. I'm old enough to take care of myself you know. You don't have to mother me!"

Uh-oh. She looked a bit hurt at that. She looked a lot hurt. I had to fix it, and quickly. I lent over the table between us and patted her hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's just, well, I'm not used to having other people worry about me."

She looked a bit surprised. "Really?" she asked. "But what about your family, Eric? They must worry about you?"

Fuck no. Not the family I had left. Not at all. "Uh, yeah, probably. But, you know, I'm not your problem. I'll be fine. And I'm sorry for snapping." And I was sorry. I didn't want to hurt her, ever.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's fine. You're still more pleasant than Sophie-Anne even when you are pissed off." And that was it, she was over it. Huh, who knew you just had to apologise and mean it and women would just move on? I was getting better at this.

Reluctantly I headed back to the office to finish the work on the presentation. Sookie and I agreed we'd meet at the office at 4.30pm the next day and then go to the bar where they were having drinks together. At least I had that to look forward to, as the rest of the day was going to be hell and there was no knowing what time I was going to finish up. Chow and Indira were holed up in the meeting room as well, fingers flying over laptop keyboards, and the atmosphere was pretty tense.

By the time I finally got everything finished at about 11pm that night, I realised I'd barely thought of Sookie at all. That was probably for the best. I'd only make another plan that would never work out for me.

SPOV

I had managed to get Judith and Calvin to agree to have Felicia and Amelia overnight on Friday night so I could go into town for the work drinks. They probably did it because they felt sorry for me, but, who cares? I was going out for drinks. Like a proper person did at the end of the working week. OK, so I was technically unemployed again, but still, I wasn't being picky.

I just hoped that Amelia was nice to Jessica, and that Felicia wasn't up a lot over night. She'd been a bit snuffly, I guess from all the lovely germs she would have picked up on her travels, and was teething as well. Not a good combination in an 8 month old.

So on Friday afternoon I was trying to find something to wear that looked smart but casual. Harder than you think when a lot of this stuff hadn't been worn since before I got pregnant with Felicia. In the end I wore my red satin shirt, with the tie belt (only slightly too tight across my boobs) and my good, dark jeans. I was a bit dubious about the jeans, and kept checking out the rear view in my mirror. I wasn't convinced they weren't too tight. Every time I peered over my shoulder there seemed to be an awful lot of bum in the view. In the end I decided they'd have to do.

I put on high-heeled sandals. I styled my hair. I put on proper eye-makeup using three different shades of eyeshadow.

The only downside was that I was stuck taking a bus into the city to get there, which made the shoes a bit of a nuisance, but I didn't want to pay for a taxi when the buses were every 15 minutes and they dropped me outside the office.

I found Eric in the meeting room packing up his laptop. "Hey" I said "How did the presentation go?"

EPOV

The presentation went as well as could be expected. The problem was that New Zealand was significantly over-banked, and they were all just cannibalising each other's market share. You had to come up with something really unique to bring a lot more people in. But most banks were reluctant to do something that involved cutting fees, because they didn't want to miss out on revenue. Chances were half of what I'd proposed would be mulled over for a few months and never get acted on. That was the problem with this job; you turned up, gave advice to people who were paying thousands for the privilege of having you tell them shit, and then they smiled, nodded and ignored everything you'd said.

By the time I got back to the meeting room and started packing up it was after 4pm. I was just finishing getting everything back into my laptop bag when Sookie appeared. Wow, just… wow. She looked awesome. She asked me how the presentation went, and I know I said something, but I couldn't tell you what it was. I was too busy looking at her breasts straining against a shiny, red shirt. When we left and she walked ahead of me to the elevators, I got a great view of her ass in her tight jeans. It looked fucking awesome.

I was going to have a hard time being on my best behaviour tonight, but I'd promised myself I wasn't going to try anything with Sookie. I had to let that fantasy go. Well, not the actual fantasies, but the pretence that there might be anything more. I would have to be happy with the fact that I'd managed to have an actual relationship with a woman that didn't involve one night of fucking and an awkward moment in the morning when I tried to avoid either giving out or being given any phone numbers.

So we started the walk up Queen Street. Conveniently, they were holding the drinks at somewhere called the Bluestone Room which was right behind the place I was staying. It wasn't a very long walk, but it took me a lot longer than it normally did as I had to remember to match my pace to Sookie's. She was wearing some very high shoes, which made her ass wiggle quite nicely.

I realised though that I didn't want to drag all my stuff into the bar, not when I was walking past the hotel. And I could get out of the suit too, that would be nice.

"Hey, Sookie" I said "I, um, have to go and drop up off my bag and get changed. Do you want to come up and see the room I'm in?" Did that sound like a pick-up line, I wasn't sure. I wasn't trying to come onto her. At least I think I wasn't.

To my surprise she said "Sure" and we headed through the doors across the lobby and took the elevator up to my floor. I was starting to get nervous, which was not something I was really used to. Not for a long time. But then the women I took to my hotel rooms were usually not people I cared much about.

Sookie stood nervously just inside the door taking it all in.

"Wow" she said "this is pretty fancy, Eric. You lucked out."

I was just thankful for housekeeping staff so she didn't have to see the state it was in before I left this morning. I dumped my bag, grabbed some clothes out of the wardrobe and said "Have a seat, I'll be right back" and raced into the bathroom to get changed.

I splashed some water on my face. Fuck this was hard, I didn't know what to do. I didn't like not having a plan. Should I offer her a drink so she'd stay here for a bit? Make a move? Was that was she was expecting? Would anyone notice if we never showed for drinks?

I stared at my reflection in the mirror trying to talk myself down. The best plan was…let Sookie plan. Fuck it, I was just going to have to follow her lead on this one.

I left the bathroom and Sookie stood up and started walking towards the door. Right, well, I guess we were off for drinks then.

SPOV

I nearly had a panic attack when I realised that somehow I'd ended up in Eric's hotel room before I'd even had a drink. He just asked if I would go up there with him while he got changed, and I didn't even really think about it. I was feeling so comfortable with him. It wasn't until he was in the bathroom and I was sitting there looking at the immaculately-made bed that I realised just what I might have gotten myself into. Uh-uh, no way in hell.

When he came out of the bathroom I started to move towards the door, hopefully signalling that I wasn't comfortable staying. Although, I had to admit, Eric was looking pretty damn good in a blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and some jeans. I'd never seen him in jeans before. But he breezed past me, opened the door of the room, and said "Shall we?"

We were some of the first to arrive at the Bluestone Room. Indira and Chow were already there, along with some of the analysts and managers they'd been working with, but there was no Sophie-Anne or Andre yet. That was a bonus. We all sat in a booth near the back and made small talk. Eric asked what I wanted to drink and went off to get me a gin and tonic on the tab that had been started.

By the time I'd finished that first drink I was having a great time. Once upon a time I'd been able to hold my liquor like a pro, especially when I worked in London. I could down five G&Ts and still find the right Tube to take me home. But I hadn't been drinking much in the last few years; pregnancy and breastfeeding will do that to you, not to mention it would be too sad to drink when you're the only adult in the house. So this drink went straight to my head. Of course I wanted another one.

By the time I was part-way through my second drink, Sophie-Anne, Andre and the CFO, Peter Threadgill, had arrived. More to the point I was finding everything that was going on more and more hilarious. I hoped I was as entertaining as I thought I was. Eric was laughing though, so that was good.

Sometime during the third or maybe fourth drink, I started to get the giggles. To make it worse, Peter came over to talk to me and thank me for my work and I had to try to keep a straight face.

"So, Sookie. Soph has been telling me about all the hard work you did for this project. I just wanted to say thanks for being part of the team, and I've told Soph that if she needs to get you back in again, then just put the request through" he didn't wait for me to reply, but nodded to me and took off to talk to someone else.

I grabbed Eric's arm. "Oh My God Eric! She's a _Soph_! Sophie-Anne lets him call her Soph! Why did we not know this earlier?" Eric snickered. I looked over at where Peter was now standing talking to Sophie-Anne. She did seem to be standing awfully close to him. And laughing awfully hard at his jokes. And occasionally she was touching his arm.

I nudged Eric again. "Did you see that? Maybe he did really want her over here after all? Maybe she's his mistress or something? "

Eric snorted. "He's either really brave or really stupid if that's the case."

Then I spied something else that was even better. Andre was coming back into the bar and next to him was a tiny, dark-haired girl with a huge scowl on her face. The girlfriend! "Look, Eric! She's real!" I pointed at Andre and the girl and Eric pushed my hand back down so I wasn't so obvious. Maybe he wasn't as far gone as I was.

Andre came over and introduced us to Thalia. She scowled at us. They went and sat in the corner where she continued to scowl at Andre and refuse all attempts at conversation. Wow, she was really hard work. I almost felt sorry for Andre.

The problem with alcohol, well, at least for me, is that the more you drink, the more it seems like a good idea to keep drinking. So when someone suggested cognac, I was definitely in. Eric eyed me suspiciously but didn't say anything.

Chow and Indira had obviously decided that they no longer had to maintain professional standards in front of the client as they were now indulging in a very public display of affection in the corner of the booth, with Indira straddling Chow's lap. I looked at Eric and he was staring wide-eyed at the sight.

"Hey" I said, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention "were they like at the weekends?"

"Fuck no. It's, it's just wrong. It's like watching your parents make out or something. But I can't look away."

I decided to help him out by leaning over to shield his eyes with my hand, while we both laughed hysterically.

And then things are a bit blurry. I think I might have insulted someone from the marketing department by referring to it as the colouring-in department. And I'm pretty sure I said "Thanks for hiring me, Soph!" to Sophie-Anne. Yeah, she wasn't in the party mood like I was.

The next thing I remember is Eric asking if I wanted to go back to his room and help him with the final details of his trip. Well, why the hell not? I probably had to sober up a bit anyway before getting in a taxi, even I could realise that. And I'd been up there before and it was fine.

Luckily, the bar was like, oooh, 10 metres from the hotel entrance. Unluckily, those 10 metres were mostly old cobblestones and I was a bit wobbly in my high shoes now. But it was OK; I had to Eric to lean on. He's really solid, and good at holding people up.

We got to the room and I sat back down on the couch and picked up one of the guidebooks from the coffee table. Eric asked if I wanted anything to drink, and I said just water. Somewhere in there sensible-Sookie was still functioning. Eric handed me a bottle from the mini-bar. I thought about telling him off for wasting money when tap water would have been fine, but thought, fuck it, it's not my money.

I sipped my water and opened one of the guidebooks. Eric sat down next to me with his own bottle and peered at what I was reading, resting his chin on my shoulder. I tried to ignore how nice that felt. And how good he smelt. And the fact that I could feel his breath on my neck.

I continued to flick through the guidebook randomly. "Ooh, look!" I said "You could go to Hobbiton! The poor hobbits, they'd freak if they saw you. You're like a giant!"

Yeah, I was still funny. Eric wasn't laughing though. He was just, well, breathing on me. I couldn't look at him. I'd come undone.

And then he spoke. "Sookie" was all he said, it came out as a hoarse whisper and did all sorts of things to my insides. I suddenly felt very hot. I just kept staring at the book in front of me, but I was no longer making out any of the words.

Eric spoke again. "Sookie, you're so fucking sexy. I've been watching you all night and you're driving me crazy. Sookie, I really just want to…" but I didn't let him finish.

Somewhere inside of me something snapped. If Eric thought I was sexy, then fuck it, I was going to be sexy, if only for tonight. And I really couldn't tell you which part of me was in control anymore, whether it was the part that was drunk, the part that was sober or the part that had been in hiding since I'd lost Bill. But I turned my head and kissed him, hard.

Despite the fact he'd obviously been trying to seduce me, Eric looked surprised. But then he got into it and we carried on kissing for a while. I was having the best time. Eric's hands drifted up and kneaded my boobs through my shirt. And then he started trying to undo the buttons. But I wasn't ready to go there yet, and I slapped his hands away. If I was doing this I was in charge. I was going to show him just how fucking sexy I could be.

I pushed his shoulders and got him to sit with his back flat against the back of the couch. I put my knees on either side of his thighs and kept kissing him, while undoing the buttons of his shirt. Eric was still trying to get mine undone, and I had to keep pushing his hands away. Eventually he seemed to get the message, and by then I had his shirt pushed open and I was running my hands over his chest. It was a really nice chest. I ran my hands over the contours and enjoyed how they felt. Eric was firm and warm and felt so fucking good.

I bent my head and swirled my tongue around one of his nipples. Eric groaned and threw his head back. I loved making him groan like that. But the over-achiever in me thought, I could do better than that.

So I grabbed a cushion off the couch and stood up. I pushed Eric's knees apart, and, placing my cushion on the floor first, knelt down between his legs. Eric just watched me, not saying or doing anything. I started to undo the fly of his jeans and he lifted his hips so I could push his jeans down to his ankles, taking his underwear with them.

Wow, he was pretty big. I guess. I didn't have a lot of comparison. I had a moment of hesitation, but pressed on. I bent forward and took the head of his penis into my mouth and swirled my tongue around that. Hah, that got a much louder groan, followed by Eric saying "Fuck Sookie." We were onto a winner here.

I took him into my mouth again, this time taking as much as I could and sucking. Hard. More groans, something mumbled incoherently and a pair of hands resting on my head.

I carried on with my mission. I bobbed my head up and down, taking as much as I could in each time, and using my tongue on the tip. I started using my hand to stroke as well and Eric started to lift his hips just a little to meet me, moaning "Sookie" over and over again. I felt more powerful than I had in a long time.

I increased the speed and the suction. Eric's groans grew louder. And then he yelled. "Fuck, I'm coming!" And he did. I swallowed, and his head fell back against the back of the couch.

I sat back on my heels and reality dawned on me. What the hell had I done? Eric was staring at me with an intensity that I couldn't really read. For all I knew he was counting the positions he could have me in before morning. I didn't feel sexy anymore. I felt awkward and I wanted to go home.

I stood up and started to look for my handbag. Eric started to look a bit worried. "Sookie, what's up?" he asked.

"I…have to go. I'm sorry. Enjoy your trip." I blurted out and I headed towards the door. I turned back and said "Just…be happy, Eric" and then I walked out into the hallway and ran to the lift.

Five minutes later I was across the other side of Queen Street in a taxi heading for home.

**A/N Yeah, well. We knew it couldn't be simple for these two, could it? I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out Eric's reaction to all of this though.**

**Rotorua is pronounced Row-ta-roo-a. But sometimes when we think we're funny we call it Roto-vegas. Yeah, it's not that flash!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Thanks again for taking the time to read this and for all the lovely reviews. If I didn't get to reply to you, sorry. Rest assured though, I appreciate them.**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, they belong to Charlaine Harris.**

EPOV

I decided to just go with the flow over drinks. By the way Sookie had raced out of my hotel room she'd made it pretty clear that she wasn't interested in anything happening with me tonight. So…yeah. I just had to make the best of it.

Pretty soon, though, I realised I was having a lot of fun just hanging out with Sookie. The drinks were making her giggly, and her conversation was pretty loose. Admittedly, there were some fucking bizarre things going on. I don't think I'll ever get rid of the image of Chow and Indira making out in the corner. Thank fuck I wasn't going to be stuck sitting with them on a flight back to the States on Sunday.

I have to admit though, that having Sookie so close, leaning on me, touching my arm, whispering in my ear, was having an effect on a certain part of my anatomy. I was having a pretty hard time so to speak. Watching her wiggle her ass to the music when she went to the bar to get more drinks didn't help much, either. In an effort to maintain some control, I opted out of the round of cognacs someone ordered. Sookie didn't though, and it seemed to rid her of most of the inhibitions she was still clinging to.

I was keeping a pretty good eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid, and half an eye on Andre to make sure he didn't decide to trade up from his miserable girlfriend to Sookie, who was getting friendlier by the minute. Luckily she was mostly friendly with me. And Sophie-Anne, although Sophie-Anne didn't seem to appreciate the fact that Sookie wanted to be best friends and call her Soph.

I figured by that stage it was time to get Sookie out of there and suggested we go back to the hotel to talk about my plans for the trip. I'm almost completely positive that's all I really expected to happen. My over-riding impulse was just to save her from doing anything that was too fucked-up.

When we got back there however I couldn't help myself. I sat as close to her as I could and she didn't push me away, she just kept making jokes and laughing. It felt so good to be that close. She smelt amazing, and she was soft and warm and just…everything. All I could focus on was Sookie.

I thought maybe I could kiss her, just the once, as a sort of goodbye. Then I'd put her in a taxi. Yeah, I'm sure that's what I was going to do. So I tried to tell her that I just wanted to kiss her, but she kissed me first. As much as I wanted it, it kind of shocked me that after all this time we were actually doing this.

I wanted more though, so my hands drifted to touch her boobs through her shirt. They felt goddamn amazing under all the slippery stuff she was wearing. I tried to get the buttons undone, but she slapped my hands away. I was a bit confused at that, was this all we were doing? But the next minute Sookie was pushing my shoulders so I was sitting straight on the couch and straddling my legs. So something good was almost certainly about to happen, right?

We kept kissing and she undid the buttons on my shirt. I tried again to do the same to her, but she swatted me away. I got the message. Sookie was in charge. She'd never been this aggressive in any my fantasies, but it was fucking awesome. I was happy to play along with this, for now. Later though, I wanted to unwrap her like the gift that she was.

She ran her hands over my chest and her touch was electrifying. I was so hard. I hoped to God that she wouldn't stop because I didn't think I could talk myself down from this point.

I felt her mouth on my nipple and I groaned. Fuck. I wanted to feel her mouth all over me. I _really_ wanted to know what it felt like to have her mouth on my cock.

And then she was shoving my knees apart and it looked as though I was going to get my wish. My jeans and my underwear ended up bunched around my ankles and then her hot mouth was enveloping me and I couldn't really think anymore. All I could feel was Sookie and the amazing things she was doing.

I hadn't really intended to let myself come. I wanted to hold back until I could be inside her. We had all night. I wanted to make her feel as good as she was making me feel. Better even.

But after building this up in my head for so long, I couldn't hold back. I collapsed back against the couch. It was OK. I could return the favour. I'd spend hours showing Sookie just how much I wanted her. We had time.

I looked down at her trying to convey all the lust and gratitude and, I don't know, awe, which I felt for her at that moment. But Sookie was looking back at me with an expression that didn't look right. She didn't look happy, she looked scared. Surely she wouldn't think I'd hurt her?

I asked if she was OK, but she was up on her feet grabbing her handbag and saying she had to go. What the fuck? What was happening here? I wanted her, she obviously wanted me, this couldn't be the end.

I felt at a disadvantage, sitting there with my pants round my ankles and my dick hanging out, so I started to get dressed, but she was out the door before I could reach her. This was now officially the worst night of my entire fucking life.

SPOV

I managed to get all the way home in the taxi before I burst into tears. The tears kept falling while I drank two glasses of water, took some ibuprofen and got ready for bed. By the time I was in bed, I was on to full on hysterical sobs.

I cried for my parents, who'd been taken from me far too early. I cried for Bill, who hadn't known how to ask for help. I cried for Amelia and Felicia, who were going to grow up without a father and I think I even cried for Eric, who was stuck wandering around New Zealand like a lost soul. But most of all I cried for me; the daughter who couldn't save her parents, the wife who couldn't help her husband, the mother who was scared she couldn't be enough for her children, and the woman who didn't know who she was anymore when she wasn't playing any of those roles.

The next morning I felt like shit and looked worse. Alcohol and crying don't mix. Thank god I hadn't taken to the bottle when Bill had died. Even Bob didn't seem keen on hanging around longer than he had to in order to get fed.

My head was pounding; my eyes were puffy and swollen. I phoned Judith and checked that everyone was OK and asked if they could keep Amelia and Felicia until the afternoon. Judith must have heard something in my voice, because she suggested I go over and join them for dinner and take the kids home after that. I went back to bed.

About 3pm I dragged myself up again and showered and tried to put myself together as best I could. Judith looked me up and down when I arrived but was tactful enough not to say anything other than ask if the drinks went OK. I said "Yep" and left it at that.

Amelia and Felicia were pleased to see me. Amelia was full of stories of what Uncle Calvin had done. Apparently she'd followed him from room to room and had to be shooed away from where he was trying to sand the paint off the skirting board in one of the bedrooms. I was glad she had Uncle Calvin really; otherwise there'd be a shortage of men in her life.

Felicia was doing a good job of rocking on her hands and knees but still no crawling. Which was a good thing, I guess. It would have been a shame to miss it.

We got home and the kids collapsed into bed. I followed suit and fell asleep pretty quickly. I was all cried out and was just feeling numb.

Sunday we stayed at home and did laundry. Amelia pestered me to take her to the zoo and I said maybe sometime during the week. I was still feeling pretty low and couldn't really muster up the energy for much more than a teaparties in the back garden, while Felicia watched from the deck and Bob tried to hide under the bushes by the fence.

Monday I woke up and realised I was feeling pretty much back to normal. I just had to let the whole thing go. Eric was god knows where by now and I was never going to see him again. I hadn't done anything to be ashamed of, I was a grown woman and we were consenting adults. The kids didn't know, and I hadn't been suckered into thinking I was getting a relationship out of it. Sure, it might have been lovely to actually sleep with him, but then it might have felt worse when he left. The upside was that I'd re-discovered the sexual side of myself, the one that was buried under the layers of everyone else I had to be. Maybe one day I'd let her out again. Maybe that side of my life wasn't as finished as I thought it was.

The weather was getting warm and I thought a walk up to the Mt Eden village would be nice. I could visit the expensive butcher's shop, the one we didn't normally go to, and get a few things for dinners. I had ordered some groceries online the day before and they were coming this afternoon. That was a real treat, as dragging two kids around the supermarket was akin to torture. So if nothing else the money I'd earned was affording me a few luxuries. Maybe we could even go to the gelato shop while we were out.

It took me a whole half an hour to get everyone sorted; Felicia was in the pushchair, Amelia standing on the buggy board attached to it. I hoped Amelia would want to get off and walk by herself before we got near any hills; from our street to the village it was all uphill walking along Mt Eden road towards Mt Eden itself. Sure enough, as I'd said to Eric there were tour buses parked all along the top of it. I wonder if Eric had made it to Rotorua yet.

EPOV

After Sookie left on the Friday night I was so angry I wanted to punch something, repeatedly. Mostly I wanted to punch myself for being so fucking stupid as to let her get away from me like that. Instead I settled for making a concerted effort to make my way through the contents of the mini-bar, before collapsing, fully-clothed, on the top of the bed.

The sound of one of the housekeepers coming into the room briefly woke me up on Saturday morning, but she retreated pretty quickly and I fell asleep again. When I woke up again the afternoon was almost over. I managed to get myself into a shower and order room service but that was all I was capable of doing. I was mad at myself and I was mad at Sookie. And there wasn't anything I could do about it. I still didn't know where she lived. Fuck!

Sunday morning I had to drag my ass out of bed and get down to pick up my rental car. I drove it back to the hotel, and then set out again for the cruise I'd booked in a fit of optimism during the week.

I must have looked pretty scary because I don't think any of the other people on the boat said a word to me for the whole two hours we were out. Standing out on the deck, though, with the wind on my face did lift my mood somewhat. I was moving on. This trip was my ticket to a fresh start.

So I got back to the hotel and packed up my shit, ready to check out Monday morning. When Monday came around I faced the inevitable horror that was my in-room entertainment bill, stowed my stuff in the rental car and headed off. I had one detour to make before I hit the road; I was going to look at Mt Eden. Sookie had been adamant that I should see the view and I guess I was going as a kind of tribute to her, and the fact that for a little while, she'd made me feel really good.

So I set my GPS and set off. It only took about 20 minutes and I was heading up the winding road to the summit. I understood pretty quickly what Sookie meant about the tour buses, the road was pretty narrow as it was and the bus drivers weren't keen on sharing it. A couple of times I had to reverse back in order to allow them to pass, which was a steep learning curve for me as driving while sitting in the right-hand seat felt totally unnatural.

I finally reached the top, parked, and got out. Yep, Sookie was right, the view was amazing. I read the information about the Maori Pa that used to be situated here, and stared at the remains of the volcanic crater. I walked around and stared out into the surrounding suburbs. I wondered exactly where Sookie lived.

A bus-load of Japanese tourists arrived and I caused a bit of a stir; I guess it was the height. Some of the younger women wanted photos with me and I was popular there for a while, although they were all very polite, if quite giggly. Finally, I managed to disentangle myself from them and get back in the car.

I wasn't sure what to do next. I was supposed to be heading to Rotorua, but I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to Auckland yet. I drove back to where the summit road met Mt Eden Road and turned left. I thought I'd just have a bit of look around what must be Sookie's suburb.

After about 5 minutes of driving I hit a small shopping district. I thought maybe I'd stop for coffee before I went any further. I turned into a side street and found a carpark, then walked back to a café I'd spotted on the corner of the main road.

After ordering my coffee I sat outside on the pavement and did some people-watching. I figured if I was travelling by myself I'd have to get used to this. No one paid me much attention. The coffee came and I sipped it slowly.

There seemed to be an awful lot of mothers with kids and strollers wandering about. I guess that was what you did with kids. I tried to remember how old Sookie's kids were and if she'd be pushing them around somewhere.

I was so far lost in my own thoughts that I almost missed her going past. I'd been tuning out the chatter around me and when I heard another child's voice go, "Mum, can I have a fluffy?" I hadn't registered it. But the voice that replied "No, you've just had ice cream" was unbelievably familiar.

I stood up and called after her. At first she didn't hear. "Sookie" I yelled a bit louder, and a bit more desperately. She stopped and turned.

"Oh my God, Eric!" she said. "You've got your baseball cap on!"

**A/N Some of you picked Eric might go and hang out in Mt Eden hoping to see Sookie, he's so transparent!**

**So, a bit of history from Wikipedia -**

**Mt Eden is the highest non-manmade point in Auckland. It's a volcano, but last erupted about 15,000 years ago. However some of us are still finding bits of volcanic rock in our gardens ;-)**

**A Pa is the Maori word for village. The one on the top of Mt Eden was fortified, as obviously if you're up that high you can see everyone coming. You can still see the terraces that were carved in to the side of the hill when it was occupied in this way prior to Europeans arriving here. **

**The Mt Eden village is not, however, a village. It's just called that (or we call it the Village for short) for some reason. It's just shops and cafes around a couple of intersections on Mt Eden Road, but it's nice because it's not a mall and tends not to have any chain stores, so the shops are more interesting. **


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N So I'm getting a bit addicted to this writing thing. I keep thinking that if I just write the next part then I'll be able to take a break. Doesn't happen. **

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

It took me a minute to register that someone was yelling my name. As usual Amelia was chattering away and the fact that she'd just had ice cream, didn't stop her asking for a fluffy as well. But we had meat in the bottom of the pushchair that needed to get home and I wasn't stopping again.

And then I realised that the voice I could hear was yelling at me. And in the same minute that I registered that it was my name being called, I also figured out whose voice was calling it. Eric.

I turned round and he was walking towards me. He must have been sitting outside having coffee. Wasn't he supposed to be in Rotorua?

No wonder I hadn't noticed him. He was wearing a hat. Which of course I felt compelled to tell him. Crap, were we back to that again?

He didn't say anything but was just watching me so I said, "It's a really good disguise. I didn't see you. And of course it's sensible given the state of the ozone layer here." I was really nervous and it showed.

"Umm, yeah" was all Eric said. I wondered why he was being so quiet and what he thought of me now. Please don't say anything in front of Amelia, I thought.

Amelia, however, was starting to get annoyed that she wasn't included in the conversation, such as it was. "I'm wearing my hat too!" she said. We'd battled a bit over her wearing it before we left the house.

"Yes, you are sweetheart" I said, absent-mindedly.

Amelia was undeterred. "I'm Amelia. This is my sister Leesha. What's your name?" she said to Eric. She wasn't really all that interested in him, this was her standard greeting for everyone from checkout operators to people collecting money door to door. It was just an opener for her to be able to talk more about herself.

Eric's gaze shifted down to where Amelia was standing next to me. "I'm Eric" he said, omitting the usual "and aren't you sweet?" that Amelia was pretty used to hearing when she introduced herself.

Amelia continued on. "I'm 3, and then I'm going to be 4, and then I'm going to be 5 and go to big-girl school. But Mum hasn't taken me to big-girl school yet. Just pre-school. But not today. Today we've had ice cream. When I grow up I want to be a policeman. But a girl one. And also a teacher…"

I realised I'd better cut her off. "Hang on for a second sweetheart, while I talk to Eric." Amelia looked put out but at least paused for breath.

"So, you're still in Auckland?" I asked Eric.

"Yeah, I just went up Mt Eden. You're right the view was amazing. And I thought I'd just have coffee before I started driving to Rotorua." His gaze once again shifted to Amelia who was now leaning into the pushchair pulling faces for Felicia who was giggling like this wasn't a show she got five times a day every day. I guess he's not used to kids.

"Well, I'm glad you stopped to see it. We've just been to the butcher's and now we're heading home, 'cos we live just down there in Merton Street, so it's a nice walk up here. When it's not raining of course. Which is does a lot here." I was officially rambling.

"Well, yeah. I guess it would be."

Eric looked like he wanted to say something else, but couldn't figure out how to say it. I just didn't know what to say. I wanted to say sorry for leaving him like that, but somehow it felt wrong to talk about Friday night, out here on the street under the gaze of Amelia, who had lost interest in her sister and was now rummaging through my bag looking for her drink.

"So, I had better get these two home before anyone loses the plot. It was good to see you Eric. I hope you have a wonderful trip, I really do. And just…just, all the best."

I walked over to him and put my arms around his waist for what was meant to be a quick hug, but he grabbed me and held tighter and for longer than had been my intention. I tried to ignore the feelings that set off in me. When he released me I stood on tiptoe and put my hands on his shoulders to get him to lean down, and I kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye Eric" I said, and then turned to make sure Amelia hadn't run off into traffic and no one had baby-napped Felicia out of the pushchair. I heard Eric say "Bye Sookie".

Amelia yelled out "Bye Eric!" and waved at him. I didn't look back but just kept walking away.

EPOV

I may have been hoping to see her. But it was still a shock when she materialised a few feet away from me. Complete with stroller and two kids. Wow. There was that visual I was missing. Sookie was a mom.

There was so much I wanted to say to her. I wanted to ask why she ran away from me. I wanted to tell her to come back. I wanted to tell her that I missed her so fucking much. But it was weird with the kids there. I didn't know what I could or couldn't say. I was pretty sure I couldn't talk about the blowjob.

The older kid didn't shut up either. I didn't think kids that age talked that much? I guess I had no clues about kids. I didn't even really remember being one.

I started to walk back to the rental car, at a loss of what to do. Then it hit me. Sookie had said what street she lived in, I just needed to remember it.

I ran over that bit of the conversation in my head. Merton, I was pretty sure she said Merton. I got into the car and typed it into the GPS. After a couple of tries with the spelling I was pretty sure I had it. Sure enough, it wasn't far away from where I was. Was I really going to stalk her? Apparently I was.

So I started driving, following the directions, which were pretty much drive in a straight line. I actually passed Sookie and the kids walking home and fought the urge to stop and pick them up. Not knowing what I was driving, she never spotted me, and I guess my baseball cap disguise helped.

When I turned into Merton Street I wondered what to do next. I didn't know which house was hers. From the look of it, it was a pretty long street. I guess I was going to have to wait for her to catch up and see where she went.

After about 15 minutes I spied Sookie turning into the road through the rear-vision mirror. I briefly panicked that she would spot me as she walked past the car, but that problem was solved when she turned into a driveway before she reached where I'd parked, and stopped to empty the letterbox. Fucking fantastic, I'd found where she lived.

Now, though, I was at a bit of a loss. What would she think if I just showed up at her door? Maybe I'd just sit here for a bit and try to think of a good reason for being here.

I started the car and did a u-turn, re-parking so the car was across the road and slightly down from the house Sookie had gone into. Now I had a perfect view of the front door and I could just…watch for a bit. Make sure she didn't leave again or anything.

So I sat there just waiting, hoping the neighbourhood watch didn't spot me. Nothing happened for a very long time. I got more and more bored, but the longer I sat there the harder it got to actually leave the car and walk to her front door.

After a while I figured that it would be rude to show up empty handed. I remembered there was a liquor store on the corner of her street and thought that a nice bottle of wine would be appropriate. That was the kind of shit you took to people's houses when you visited, right?

So I ducked out of the car and headed off to the shop, hoping Sookie wasn't going to choose that moment to look out her front windows. It felt good to stretch my legs. While I was in the liquor store I decided I might as well get some bourbon while I was there. It would be cheaper than drinking from mini-bars from now on. Then I noticed the small shop next door, the one that said 'Dairy' had a display of cut flowers out on the pavement. I should definitely get some of those too.

So flowers and alcohol in hand, I sprinted back to the car with my head down, hoping that if I moved fast enough Sookie wouldn't spot me. I realised that I should probably just bite the bullet and go over there, but I still hadn't figured out what I was going to say. So I'd just sit here for a bit. And maybe just have a quick sip of that bourbon.

After a while a large truck started backing into Sookie's driveway. Huh? Was she moving or something?

The driver jumped out and started unloading plastic packing crates from the back, which he stacked up and carried to Sookie's front door. Sookie appeared, looking a bit hot and bothered, and then started unloading a load of stuff from the crates. The driver guy just stood there watching her, checking out her cleavage as she bent over. Fucker. Why was he just letting her do that shit? I fucking hoped she wasn't going to give him a give him much of a tip. I took a swig of bourbon.

The truck drove off and some more time passed. A large SUV pulled into Sookie's driveway next and a tall guy with a tattoo jumped out and opened up the back of it. Sookie came out with the bigger kid running ahead of her. The guy hugged Kid 1 (as I was now calling her), and then went in to hug Sookie, kissing her cheek. Oh fuck, she did have someone. She'd been hiding some guy from me all this time. That's why she didn't want me here. I was pissed as all fuck and took another drink. Several in fact.

The guy pulled out some kind of large toy and carried it inside. What was he, fucking Santa? After a couple of minutes, he came back out, with Kid 1 attached to his leg. He managed to disentangle her; kissed Sookie on the cheek again, got in his SUV and drove off. Well that was weird. Maybe it was just her brother or something. But maybe I'd better sit here for a bit and make sure the guy didn't come back. I didn't want to end up in an awkward situation on Sookie's front doorstep.

So I had a few more drinks, and then a few more. By now lights were going on in Sookie's house. Then lights started to go off, until there was just a glow coming from one room.

By now it was fully dark. The bourbon bottle was feeling pretty light. I figured it was time to make my move.

I got out of the car and got half-way across the street before I realised that I'd left the flowers and wine on the passenger seat. So I ran back and got them and started out again.

I walked up the steps to the front door and a light came on overhead, nearly blinding me until my eyes adjusted. I knocked and waited. Shit, what time was it? Did she open the door this late at night? Was she calling the police as I waited here?

After what seemed like hours the door opened a crack and Sookie's face peered around it. "Hi" I said. My voice sounded my louder than I'd intended it to be.

The door opened wider. "Fuck, Eric. Are you stalking me?"

"Stalking…no. I'm, uh, visiting. Look I brought wine and flowers." I held up my trophies so she could see. She was still eyeing me warily.

"Well, come in then. But be quiet, the kids are asleep." Oh yeah, the kids.

I stepped in the door, but tripped over a box that was discarded in the middle of the floor. I don't know why, but this was funny and I giggled a bit.

"Oh Eric" Sookie said "You're shit-faced."

"I'm a what-face?" Why was she insulting me?

"You're drunk Eric. Off your face. Loaded. Just go in the living room and sit down." She took the wine and flowers off me and pointed to a door.

I went through the door she'd pointed to and sure enough, there was a couch. Around it was evidence that Sookie had been having a quiet night with the TV before I got here – an empty coffee cup, a magazine, some stuff for doing your nails. Guess I hadn't interrupted much then. Thank god Santa-guy wasn't here.

Sookie came into the room with a glass of water which she handed to me along with some pills. "Drink this and take these" she commanded. I complied. Wow, she looked pissed. When we were having that nice cosy glass of wine?

I watched her as she took a deep breath. "Eric" she began "I'm sorry how things ended up on Friday. Well, I don't regret it as such, but I'm sorry I sort of…led you on and ran away. I just can't deal with anything like that right now. But if you've come here thinking to get a repeat then I'm sorry, you're mistaken. That's just not me."

"You think I've come here so you can suck my cock again?"

"Quite frankly I don't know why you're here Eric." She sounded pissed again. "And I don't know when you're going to get the message that nothing else is going to happen."

I wanted to tell her I'd been trying but I couldn't seem to stay away, but even in this state I realised that did sound stalker-ish. So I didn't say anything for a minute. She just looked at me. I guess she did want a response.

"You can't blame me for trying." I said "You're like…you're just…you're fucking wonderful Sookie."

"Yeah, that's the drink talking. How much have you had? Have you had anything to eat?"

I shook my head.

"Right" she continued "We'd better feed you then. I have left-over Shepherd's pie, does that appeal?"

I shrugged.

"Toast and marmite?" I must have looked blank because she went on "I guess you don't know what marmite is. Umm, toast and butter then maybe" and she disappeared out of the room again.

I stared around the room again, wondering what to do next. It seemed a pretty typical living room, bookcase, TV, coffee table. But there in the corner amongst a whole lot of glass shit was something I never wanted to see. Sookie's wedding picture. Sookie and some dark-haired guy smiling and looking happy. Sookie looking fantastic in a white dress. Next to it were a couple of baby pictures that I guess were the kids.

That brought home that maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Fuck. I knew nothing about the dead husband. The kids fucking terrified me. This was too hard. I wanted out and I wanted out now.

I stood up just as Sookie appeared back in the room carrying a plate and a mug. "I, uh, I have to get going…" I stammered.

"Eric! You can't go anywhere. You're too drunk to drive; the cops will pick you up in about five minutes flat. Shit, one of the lives next door. Don't be an idiot. Sit down, eat your toast and drink this coffee. You'll have to stay here. I'll go and try and sort out a place for you to sleep."

I realised she was right and I was stuck here. Fuck. For all that I'd wanted to stay here in theory, the thought terrified me now. What if I did something wrong?

I sat down and she passed me the toast and the cup of coffee and went off again. I ate a bit of toast and had a couple of sips of coffee before putting them down on the coffee table. I lent back and closed my eyes. Fuck, why couldn't this just be easy?

After that I don't remember a lot. Except that I'm sure that at some point Sookie kissed me on the forehead and whispered "Goodnight Eric."

**A/N So he's made it to Sookie's house, but will she let him stay? Will he run away?**

**I realised that I didn't say what a fluffy is in the last chapter. It's steamed milk in a cup for kids. Usually with marshmallows, which seem to be the selling point.**

**Marmite is like vegemite, a yeast spread. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N Thanks to everyone for the wonderful response I'm getting to this story. And so I bring you the morning after...**

**Disclaimer: The character's aren't mine.**

SPOV

If she did nothing else, Amelia at least distracted me on the walk home after we'd bumped into Eric in the village. It was pretty hard to ignore the constant chatter, as she'd just ask the same question 5 times until she got a response out of me.

"So, when can we go to the zoo?" she asked.

"I don't know…sometime."

"But when, Mummy? Tomorrow?"

Tomorrow was a day she was meant to be at pre-school, but I guess she could play hooky and we could go to the zoo instead. I was feeling guilty about dumping her with Judith on Friday and Saturday, not to mention slightly guilty about exposing her to Lorena for so long while I was working. I was feeling guilty about a lot of things.

"Uh, maybe. But you'd have to miss pre-school if we did that. Would Maisie miss you?"

"Nah. Maisie's not there. She lives in England now, with a pet monkey."

"Her parents moved?"

"No just Maisie. So can we see the tigers at the zoo tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we can see the tigers." I didn't know why she was so obsessed with seeing them. They didn't do much. We could just stay at home and watch Bob sleep but I guess that wasn't exactly enriching my child.

We got home and I got everyone inside, fed, and Felicia down for a nap. It was starting to get a bit warm in the afternoons now and I opened up the house to let a breeze through. Amelia went outside to play and discovered Riley from next door was out on his trampoline. She shouted out to Riley's mum, Halleigh, that she wanted to come over and bounce too. She's not the shy type. So I had to go and talk to Halleigh and check it was OK. She was pregnant again, and looking tired. Her husband Andy was a police officer and they seemed a nice couple. Riley was about 6 months younger than Amelia, so she liked that she could boss him around.

With Amelia sorted for entertainment I made a Shepherd's pie for dinner, and gave Felicia a bottle when she woke up. I went over to get Amelia and got roped in to having a bit of a bounce on the trampoline, which made me even hotter.

We just got back in our house when I heard the Foodtown delivery truck backing up the driveway. I brought the groceries inside while Amelia hung around and tried to help. I got most of the stuff away before Calvin showed up. He was dropping off a plastic house thing for crawling babies that we'd lent to Jessica which could now come back for Felicia. We had hope for her.

Amelia was of course ecstatic that Uncle Calvin was here and really didn't want him to leave. After he was gone she spent about half an hour berating me for not making him stay for dinner. She loved him a lot, but preferred him when he didn't have Jessica around, taking away some of his attention. She was pretty possessive of him.

By this stage it was dinner time and I had the usual task of persuading Amelia to try her dinner, because she would like it. She always seemed really dubious about my cooking, as if I was trying to poison her. I hoped she'd grow out of it.

So it wasn't until after the kids were in bed and the place was quiet that I really had much of a chance to think about Eric. I wondered if I should have invited him for dinner or something. He did look a little lost. But it would have been awkward; he really didn't seem comfortable around Amelia. And he needed to get going if he was going to get to Rotorua tonight.

So I settled down to watch some crappy reality TV, and do my nails. It was quite a shock when there was a knock at the door. I turned TV off and panicked. I ran through the list of people it could be and realised there was no one who would come to my door this late at night without phoning first. Shit.

I cracked the door open, and there he was. Eric. I didn't know what to say, so, of course, I accused him of stalking me. He looked a little affronted at that and showed me some wine and flowers he'd bought as if that made it OK.

I was pretty sure he was stalking me. And I was really sure that I wasn't supposed to feel secretly flattered by it.

I got him inside and he immediately tripped over the box of nappies that I hadn't got around to putting away yet. Oh hell. He was roaring drunk.

He went into the living room and I got him water and ibuprofen while I tried to think what to say to him. Why was he here? Did he think I was easy? Surely he wouldn't have been hanging out in Mt Eden all day just for another blow-job? Where had he been all this time anyway? How the hell did he find me?

I gave him the water and the pills and he took them. Right, I thought, I better just get this out in the open, so I told him wasn't getting a repeat of Friday. In his drunken state he just tried to tell me how wonderful I was – yeah, right. He was really far gone.

I wondered how much alcohol it took to get someone that size that drunk. This wasn't good. He probably needed food.

He didn't look enthused at left-over pie. And just looked completely confused at the idea of marmite. So I thought plain toast, that would work. And coffee.

When I brought those to him he was trying to leave, he obviously had no idea just how drunk he was. He was swaying on his feet. I hoped he didn't fall over or collapse and I had no chance of picking him back up. More to the point, I couldn't let him loose on the general public in this state. I guess I was stuck with him.

I told him to eat his toast and went off to sort out the bed in the study. We called it the study but really, it was a sort-of catch-all room. Sure, there was a desk in there with Bill's PC and bunch of random computer bits, but there was also the small, lumpy, single bed that had come from Lorena's house when she'd moved into a flat, a bookcase with computer games and other things I wouldn't let Bill have anywhere else in the house, some storage boxes of baby clothes, paint cans and tools that were there because in-thery I was still re-decorating, and the wardrobe was full of the clothes and shoes I rarely wore but didn't want to part with. It was a small room and it was pretty crowded. It was going to be a squish for Eric, but I didn't have anywhere else to put him.

By the time I'd made up the bed (with a set of pink polka-dot sheets that belonged to Amelia as that was all I could find), Eric was fast asleep on the couch with his head thrown back. I guess he was going to stay there then. I went back to the study and grabbed the pillow off the bed and put it at one end of the couch, and then I managed to sort of push him down so his head was on it and he was almost flat. As I was doing that he mumbled something and made an uncoordinated grab for me, but I side stepped out of the way. We weren't both going to fit on the couch.

So I took his shoes off and covered him with the rug that sat on the back of the couch, the one Bob was fond of. Yeah, it was furry. Hope Eric isn't allergic.

I stood back and looked at him. He looked all of about 12 now he was asleep. I was really going to have to toughen up and stop feeling sorry for him; that was how I ended up with Bob. Although I guess I wasn't going to get Eric neutered like I did the cat.

I switched off the light and started to leave the room, but turned to look at Eric one last time. His mouth was open and he was snoring slightly now. I felt a rush of affection for him, and before I could stop myself I kissed his forehead and wished him goodnight, before heading off to bed myself.

When Felicia and I got up at 6.30am the next morning, Eric was still fast asleep on the couch, although he had obviously been moving around a bit as the rug was hanging half-off him now. More to the point Bob was sitting there, about to jump up and claim it back. I managed to shoo him away without waking Eric and set about getting Felicia her bottle.

Amelia appeared just before 7am and I said she had to be quiet and stay in the kitchen and family room with me.

"Why Mummy?"

"Because…there's someone in the living room. You remember Eric? From yesterday? He's asleep on the couch."

"Why?"

I struggled with that one. "Um, because he's not well and needed to sleep here."

"Why isn't he with his mummy?"

"Because she doesn't live here."

"Where does she live?"

"I don't know."

"But why isn't he with her?"

We were officially stuck in a loop. I changed the subject. "What do you want for breakfast?"

It was hard work trying to stop Amelia breaking into the living room; she was desperate to see Eric in there. Unfortunately while I was trying to spoon banana porridge into a giggling Felicia, I lost track of where Amelia was.

EPOV

When I woke up on Sookie's couch, I was being poked in the chest with a stethoscope by the world's smallest doctor. A fairy doctor, judging by the wings she was sporting.

"It's OK Mum" the tiny doctor yelled over her shoulder, way, way, way too fucking loud for my liking. "His heart's still beeping. He's not dead"

I heard Sookie's voice "It's still _beating_, Amelia. And of course he's not dead."

"Uh, I might be close" I said, sitting up. Oh yeah, that didn't feel good.

Sookie appeared in the doorway. "AMELIA! I told you to leave him alone!"

Amelia looked at me, then at Sookie, and then scuttled out of the room.

"I'm sorry Eric, I tried to keep her out, but she's been really curious about you."

I took a good look at Sookie. She was wearing a tank-top, some kind of stretchy pants, and a pair of those weird-ass Ugg boot things. Her hair was all over the place and she looked a bit pale and tired. She was gorgeous. I was a bit worried about her mood though, what the hell must she think of me?

I rubbed my hand over my face and said "I'm, uh, sorry for passing out on your couch. And, uh, really sorry for showing up here in the first place…" there wasn't much more I could say really. I was sorry.

Sookie smiled, thank fuck. "It's OK. I was just glad you collapsed on the couch because if you'd ended up on the floor you were staying there."

Right, well, we seemed to be going OK here. I started to say thanks for looking after me, but Kid 1 (Amelia?) bounced back into the room and fixed me with a stony look. "So, if you're sick do you have a spider in your tummy?"

'Umm…" I had no idea what she was on about and I looked to Sookie for guidance.

"She had a tummy bug not that long ago. She thinks you've got the same thing, but she gets a bit confused by the use of 'bug' and uses spider instead."

Oh. "No, I don't have a spider." I said

"Are you bleeding?"

"Definitely not."

"Humpf" And with that she was off again.

"I don't think she believes you're really sick" Sookie laughed. "So, can I get you breakfast? Its toast or cereal I'm afraid. And the only cereal is Weetbix, unless you want Felicia's banana porridge. So, um, what would you like?"

Well I was getting breakfast instead of being thrown out the door, so that was OK. I just wish I didn't feel like I'd been hit by a fucking truck. What the hell was that squealing noise anyway?

Sookie must have noticed me wincing and said "Sorry, that's just Felicia wanting attention, hang on a sec." She disappeared out the door, then reappeared carrying the baby. Wow, that kid had Sookie's eyes; it was weird with the two of them looking at me.

Sookie just stood there and I wondered what was going on. Oh yeah, she'd asked me about breakfast. "Toast would be great. Thanks." I managed to get out. And she disappeared again.

The kid I'm sure is Amelia appeared with a glass of water and said to me "Mum said you need to drink this". I took it out of her hand and she walked off, only to come back with some tablets. "Mum said take these." And she was off again. I figured I had no choice but to do what I was told.

Sookie appeared with the toast and some coffee. "It's just instant, sorry. I don't bother getting anything else in just for me." And then she disappeared. Were none of them going to stay here with me?

I finished my toast and coffee and, taking the empty plate and cup, went in search of Sookie. I found her in the kitchen unloading a dishwasher. She motioned for me to put the dishes on the bench and I did so, and then took at seat at the breakfast bar in front of her. I was still feeling nervous and wondering when the wrath of Sookie was going to hit me full force. She had been pissed last night; surely she wasn't over it now. Even I knew it didn't work like that with women. They held grudges. And they were mean.

Sookie glanced past me to the kids. The baby was jammed in some sort of round, pink plastic thing, and the big one was dancing around her. Obviously satisfied that they weren't going to interrupt, she turned to me.

"Look, Eric. I really don't think it was a good idea for you to show up here last night…" I started to say something in my defence, but she held up her hand to stop me. "But I understand if you're feeling a bit lonely at the moment, stuck here by yourself."

She paused and that seemed to be my cue to say something. "Yeah, it's, um, lonely."

She continued "So, what I suggest is this. We're off to the zoo today. You can come with us, and then get on your way to Rotorua. And when you come back to Auckland to fly back to the States, I'll give you dinner before you leave. But that's it. That's all I'm offering. Take it or leave it."

It wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't what I wanted at all. I wanted Sookie to leave her kids and run off with me. But I guessed I wasn't getting what I wanted.

"Sure, that sounds...great."

Sookie broke into a huge smile. "Brilliant. Well go and get your bag from your car so you can take a shower. We have to get going so we're at the zoo before the tigers all fall asleep in the sun."

Guess I was going to the zoo then.

**So, next up the trip to the zoo. What will prove more interesting for Amelia, Eric or the tigers? **

**In case anyone hadn't figured it out earlier, nappies are diapers. And Weetbix is kind of like our national cereal. It's hard to explain - it's basically flaky, rectangular bits of cardboard that taste of not much. A classic fear-factor type dare is to see how many you can eat without milk and without drinking anything. It's really hard because they're so dry.**

**If anything else I write needs explaining, just let me know.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N Ok - as I know you're all keen to see how the zoo goes, here it is (well most of it) from Eric's point of view.**

**Thanks for everyone who's following this. I'm having such a blast writing this!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

EPOV

The shower went some way towards making me feel human again. For about the hundredth time that morning I wished I hadn't been so fucking stupid as to drink all that bourbon. Sookie's kids were loud and I wasn't sure I wanted to be hanging out and playing happy families with them at the zoo. The fucking zoo, for fuck's sake! I wondered just how on earth Sookie had managed to rope me into this. Was I really so far gone with this woman that I'd do any kind of crazy shit with her, after only one blow-job?

Yeah, that was me. Eric Northman, Sookie's bitch.

When I found her in the family room again she was in a frenzy of activity, packing all sorts of random stuff into a pink backpack. How much shit was she taking? She looked up and threw something at me; I only just managed to catch it.

"Put that on" she said. I looked down at what I was holding. Sunscreen. Oh, OK.

I made a half-hearted attempt at putting some on my nose before Sookie sighed, and took over, covering my whole face and neck. Well that was kind of nice. Or it would have been if she wasn't also yelling "Amelia, find your shoes NOW, please" right next to my ear.

She took off to find Amelia and the shoes. I was left with the baby in the pink plastic round thing. She just looked at me. I hoped she didn't want to make conversation.

Sookie returned with Amelia, who was now wearing shoes, and proceeded to slather Amelia in sunscreen as well. Then the baby had a turn.

It looked as though we were just about ready to leave. "Hat, Eric." Sookie said. My brain wasn't working and I couldn't figure out what she was saying. "You need to wear your hat to the zoo." Oh.

"It's in the car" I said. "I'll just go and get it". I headed out the door. Jesus, Sookie was in full-on bossy-Mom mode and I seemed to be getting swept up in it.

When I jogged back to her driveway, she'd just about finished loading the kids in her car, some of sort of sedan. Wow. The back seat was crowded with two kid's seats on it. There was a brief bit of confusion when Sookie and I tried to get in the same door, and then I remembered that everything was on the wrong side in this country, and I headed around the car. Sookie was chuckling to herself. Yeah, I was fucking hilarious.

As soon as we backed out of the driveway Amelia started talking. "Mum, why did Eric want to drive the car?"

"He didn't, sweetheart, he just went to the wrong door."

"Why'd he do that?"

"Because where he comes from, people sit on the other side of the car to drive."

"Why?"

"Because they drive on the right over there."

"Why?"

"They just do."

"Where is he from?"

"America."

"Why?"

Jesus, was it always like this? I closed my eyes and tried to zone out for a bit.

After about 20 minutes we were pulling into the carpark for the zoo. Amelia had stopped asking questions and was busy listing the animals she wanted to see. Did all kids talk this much?

Sookie found a spot and we came to a stop. "OK" she said, turning to the kids in the back "I'll just get the push-chair out of the boot, then I'll get you guys out, so just be patient" with that she was out the door before I could figure out what she'd been talking about. It wasn't until I realised she was lifting the stroller out of the trunk of the car that my brain figured it out. Shit, I needed Google translator in my head or something. And more to the point, I should have been helping.

I leapt out of the car to find she was getting the baby out and putting her in the stroller. "Can you undo Amelia's seatbelt and help her out?" she asked. I guess I could.

I opened the door and inspected the belt that was holding Amelia in place. She was still talking but I wasn't listening, it appeared even Sookie wasn't listening to her anymore so I assumed I didn't have to.

However, I couldn't quite figure out what bit I was supposed to press to get the seatbelt undone. I was staring at it, willing my brain to work a bit faster when I realised Amelia was talking directly to me. "Eric" she said "press the red button. There." That worked. I completely sucked at this; even the kid knew more than I did.

We walked through the carpark to the entrance, Sookie pretty much ignoring me as she was being monopolised by Amelia. I took some deep breaths and hoped the fresh air would help my hangover.

Just before we reached the gate Sookie handed me something. It was a laminated card with a picture of the baby on it. "Here" she said "you can use Felicia's annual pass. The kids are allowed one adult in each so you can be her adult." Huh. I don't think I'd ever been anyone's adult before.

The kid's passes got swiped and we were in. Amelia went skipping off saying she wanted to see the tigers and we followed along at a more leisurely pace, which was about all I could manage.

Sure enough when we caught up to her, she had her nose pressed against the glass of the tiger enclosure. There wasn't a lot to see, just a large tiger asleep in the sun. Fuck I envied him.

After a while of staring at that enclosure we moved on to the next one which had more tigers; apparently a mother and her three almost-grown cubs who were climbing all over her. Sookie leaned in to me and said "I know how she feels. You notice the dad next door was actually getting to lie in this morning?" Yeah, I did. Maybe tigers had the right idea? I just said "Mmm".

The rest of the trip around the zoo was just a blur of animals and Amelia's excited chattering. She and Sookie seemed to be enjoying themselves at least. The baby fell asleep in the stroller and I thought that would have been nice, but I was feeling a bit better for being outside. And no one expected much of me.

There seemed to be hundreds of women with kids and strollers here, lots of them in groups of two or three. I guess there wasn't much else to do on a Tuesday in Auckland. There was the odd other guy around, but not too many. However, one in particular caught Amelia's eye. He had his kid sitting on his shoulders. She came racing back to me from where she'd been staring at the elephant and said "Eric, I want to do that" and she pointed in the direction of the shoulder-riding kid.

I wasn't sure what to say. "Uh…" Thankfully Sookie stepped over to Amelia.

"Honey, I don't think so. Not this time OK?"

Amelia was undeterred. "But I want to."

"No"

"But I do." Boy, she wasn't going to give up. Sookie looked at me pleadingly. Shit.

"Um, OK I guess…" Amelia beamed at me. I guess we were friends then.

I crouched down so Sookie could help her on and stood up. Amelia rested her hands on the top of my head. I put my hands up to hold her on. Christ, I hope I didn't drop her. I didn't think Sookie would forgive me for that one.

"Thank you Eric" shouted the voice above me.

"You're welcome" I replied

"Yeah, thank you for this Eric" said Sookie, with a sort of half-rub, half-pat to my lower back. Well I was winning friends all over the place. Maybe this was worth it.

And it wasn't too bad. Amelia managed not to squirm too much, and she wasn't talking as much because she was so busy looking at the view, which I guess was a novelty for her.

We finally ended up at the zoo café and Sookie suggested coffee. Fuck yes, I needed coffee. The instant shit from this morning hadn't helped me at all. We found a table and I got Amelia down. Sookie was busy getting water bottles and snacks out of her bag. So that's what she was packing this morning.

Sookie stood up again and said "Right, I'll get the coffee in", and took off. I realised I should probably be paying for it, but I couldn't charge off and leave the kids, could I? No, probably not. I didn't know what the crime rate was like in New Zealand, but I was pretty sure un-attended kids were capable of getting themselves into the shit even if no one stole them. Thankfully Amelia seemed engrossed in poking her sister. I left them to it.

Sookie re-appeared and handed me a coffee. Then she dug around in that backpack and pulled out a water bottle and some tablets, passing them to me. "I thought you might still have a headache." I guess this was a benefit of hanging out with a mom; they looked after you as well.

After a bit the water, coffee and painkiller combo were doing their stuff and I was feeling almost human again. Amelia wanted to go to the playground so we stood and headed to the other side of the building so she could queue up to go down some long slide they had there. Sookie and I sat on a bench with the stroller next to us. We weren't saying anything, but it was…alright really. It didn't feel weird.

All of a sudden though Sookie pulled a face. "Uh, Eric. I'd better go and change Felicia. Can you watch Amelia while I go to the parent's room?"

"Sure." I could handle this. She was just going down the slide.

Sookie disappeared and I turned to watch Amelia again. Only the next time she came down the slide some other fuckwad of a fat kid landed on top of her. She burst into tears. I froze on the spot. Shit, what did I do? I looked around for Sookie. No Sookie. Fuck.

Some other random woman was helping a very red-faced Amelia up. Amelia was wailing "Mummy!" and the woman was looking around desperately, obviously trying to find someone to dump the problem kid on. I didn't blame her.

Well there was nothing for it; I'd have to step in. I walked over to where Amelia was. She'd scaled back from hysterical wailing to breathless sobs now. As soon as she spied me she said "Eric, I felled over and someone squished me." I felt bad for the poor kid, it wasn't her fault that fat fucker didn't understand personal space.

"Yeah" I said, hoping that Sookie would just materialise. The woman who'd helped her up looked me up and down, I guess trying to work out how I was connected to Amelia. I crouched down and Amelia threw her arms around my neck before I realised what was going on. Oh. I put my arms round her and patted her back, not sure what else to do.

The helpful-woman obviously decided I could cope and, after handing me a tissue she'd got out of her handbag, left me to it. I managed to prise Amelia off and handed her the tissue. She made a half-assed job of wiping her tears and blowing her nose and took a few deep breaths.

"Do you want to go and sit down and wait for your mom, uh, mum?" I asked

"Yeah"

So we went back to the bench and she sat next to me. For about 30 seconds. By which stage she'd obviously recovered and she started to dance around randomly. I tried to remember to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't wander off, but I was also watching to see when Sookie would re-appear. I could just see Sookie off in the distance when Amelia's voice drifted over "Hello, I'm Amelia. What's your name?"

I turned in her direction. She'd accosted some older woman and was attempting to strike up a conversation. I figured she was safe. I turned to smile at Sookie who was getting closer when I heard a new voice say "Your daughter is something!"

I snapped my head around to look at who said it. It was the woman who had been talking to Amelia. "Oh, um. She's not my daughter." Why would anyone assume that?

Amelia decided to join back in at that point. "Yeah, that's Eric. He just sleeps at our house sometimes. My mummy's looking after him because he can't look after himself."

Older-woman obviously didn't know what to say to that and I couldn't decide whether it made me sound like a secret lover or a retarded cousin. She just said "Oh" and scurried off.

Sookie joined us. "What was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing."

Amelia bounced over "Mummy, I felled over and hurt my knee, but it's OK. It's not bleedin'."

"Oh, sweetheart" Sookie said "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, fine. Eric got me" and with that she skipped off.

"Some fat kid fell on her coming down the slide" I added for clarification "but she seems OK." I shrugged and looked at Sookie. She was the expert here.

"Oh yeah, she'll be fine. Thanks for taking care of her" she flashed me a smile and we were off after Amelia who was heading back to the entrance.

We were almost back through the gate when one of those posses of stroller-wielding moms I'd seen accosted us.

**So, everyone's still in one piece which is something. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N I know a lot of you were enjoying Eric's POV but this one's all Sookie I'm afraid!**

**Disclaimer" Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I told Eric he could come to the zoo with us. I couldn't decide whether I was setting him a test or warning him off. A part of me thought he might just pack up and finally take off on his trip. He didn't seem to be that enthused with the kids, but surprisingly he agreed to come. Even more surprisingly, I was relieved when he did.

He must have been really hung over.

Even though I did feel a bit sorry for him, it was really hard not to laugh at the way he visibly winced every time one of the kids got loud, which was about every 5 minutes.

He kind of drifted around looking lost while I was trying to get everyone ready and in the car. It took the usual round of threats to get Amelia moving – "If you don't brush your teeth we can't go" etc. It's exhausting sometimes.

And right up until we actually drove off I almost expected him to change his mind and leave. I was really pleased he didn't, even though this probably wasn't what he thought he was getting into when he showed up the doorstep the previous night.

The trip round the zoo went pretty well. Eric was quiet for most of it, but then it's hard to get a word in when Amelia's around anyway. I should probably rein her in a bit more, but we're used to it just being the two of us in the conversation, and so she barely pauses for breath. My contribution is really just background noise.

The stickiest bit was when Amelia got it into her head that she wanted to sit on Eric's shoulders. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was working up to full-on foot-stomping dramatics, the kind only a 3 year old can produce at short notice. Thankfully Eric agreed. It was really nice of him considering they'd just met and he'd obviously been trying to keep his distance from her. I was a bit worried he might drop her, but he managed.

Having seen the requisite number of animals we managed to stop for coffee. Poor Eric looked like he really needed the sit down. And coffee. And painkillers. I worried a bit I was mothering him too, but he just seems a bit hopeless most of the time so it's hard not to. And it's a role I'm used to. In some ways I could deal with him being there a lot better if I just treated him like another kid, rather than someone who'd said he thought I was sexy, and wonderful, and who looked so good even hung over. Yeah, best not to go there.

And apparently he coped with Amelia when I had to remove a very whiffy nappy from stinky-baby in the parent's room. Good thing Eric missed that event. From the sound of it Amelia had a tumble off the slide but had bounced back. I think Eric seemed a bit more concerned than she did. She's had worse.

So I was feeling pretty good as we were heading back to the car, when all of a sudden I spied half my coffee group heading towards me. Oh shit, that's all I need. Especially Debbie Pelt. The woman just rubbed me the wrong way from day one.

She was one of those women. You know, the ones who won't come within spitting distance of a disposable nappy, preferring to put their offspring in reusable nappies made from organic bamboo which are specially imported only by one baby shop in Grey Lynn. The ones who cart their babies round in slings and breastfeed until the kid makes an informed decision to wean itself. The ones who spend entire days making their own baby food from organic vegetables they used half a tank of petrol to drive across town to buy. The one's who's kids are, as a consequence of all of this (at least according to their mothers) brighter, happier, healthier and more-advanced than our poor neglected kids who are stuck wearing Huggies and fed entirely courtesy of Watties. The ones who've seen the inside of a McDonalds.

We're all guilty of a bit of competitive mothering at some time, or of following along with some childcare practice we're assured is going to make our kids better in the long run, but Debbie was just downright tyrannical about the whole business. She was the reason I'd stopped meeting with my coffee group really. I'd used Bill's death as an excuse to avoid them, but mostly it was just her.

"Sookie!" she yelled as she approached. Oh crap. I guess my image of grieving widow might be blown by the sight of me dragging an impossibly gorgeous Eric around the zoo. I briefly entertained the idea of getting him to hide, but it was too late and he was too visible. Why did he have to be so bloody tall?

As they approached, I smiled at Eric in a way that was meant to convey 'whatever happens, just keep quiet and let me do the talking'. Well, I hoped that was the message he got.

"Sookie" Debbie said again, once they were right in front of us. "We haven't seen you for an absolute age! How _are_ you doing?" Oh good, she was turning on the sympathy. I sighed "Doing OK, thanks Debbie. How are you?"

"Well, you know, busy of course" she laughed.

I realised they were all staring at Eric who was standing really close behind me. "Uh, this is Eric. I, uh, was working for a bit and met him there. He's over from the States, so he's out with us for the day to have a look around. Eric, this is Nic, Jo and Debbie. We did our ante-natal class together when we had our first babies."

Eric said hi and there were handshakes, and a couple of really big smiles flashed by Jo and Nic in Eric's direction. Debbie just pursed her lips and looked him up and down.

After that we did the usual round of what everyone had been up to. Like me, Jo and Nic had produced the required second babies and we all admired the contents of each other's pushchairs and twittered on about how good we had it with just one child to look after. Eric just lurked behind me.

The older kids meanwhile had sprinted off to climb all over a statue of a tuatara that tended to double as play equipment. All that is except for Sebastian, Debbie's one and only child. He sat in the pushchair, staring vacantly ahead. Wasn't he too old for a pushchair? Amelia would be astonished if I tried to put her in one. Maybe it was because he was still Debbie's only kid?

"So Debbie" I asked, when there was a lull in conversation "you haven't gone back to work?" She'd been a lawyer, I thought.

"Oh, good grief no. No, I couldn't put Sebastian with people who weren't me. I'd miss him far, far too much. And it would be selfish, wouldn't it? I mean, it's so much better for them to be at home, so we just have to sacrifice ourselves. Everyone knows that motherhood is the hardest job in the world."

Well there wasn't much I could say to that. But apparently there was something Eric could. "Sookie does OK" he piped up. Oh poo.

And then he must have realised that four pairs of eyes were looking at him and he felt compelled to add. "Well, you know, she's been working and stuff and the kids seem fine." He obviously decided he'd made his point and just patted me on the shoulder and went back to standing there. Terrific. Thanks Eric, that helped immensely.

Debbie looked at him. "Do you have children, Eric?"

"Uh, no. No, this is all new for me" he gave a brief laugh.

"Mmm" said Debbie "well it would seem quite different of course, if it's not your own children." She fixed him with what I think was meant to be a kindly smile, but it was truly terrifying. "You'll know one day."

Eric at least had the sense to realise that he should shut up then. But Sebastian decided he needed something and said a string of words I couldn't decipher at all. Wow. Was it too early for speech therapy?

I guess he must have said he wanted to go and play too, because Debbie released him from the pushchair and he stumbled off.

Debbie hadn't finished her speech apparently. "There's absolutely nothing more gratifying than watching your child reach his milestones and know that it's because of all the love and effort you've put into his care." She looked smug. I wanted to slap her.

"Uh, well, yeah" said Eric "I guess it must be great, that he's doing so well, considering."

The little voice in my head went uh-oh.

Eric looked over to where the kids were. "You can't even really tell that he's, uh, different…." Oh god, Eric thought there was something wrong with Sebastian. Something other than having Debbie for a mother. One day with Amelia and he was thinking they should all be that articulate and precocious.

I cut him off. "Right" I said looking at my watch "we have to get going. Great to see you all again, and uh, we'll do coffee. AMELIA! We're going now, come here please."

To my relief Eric had stopped trying to talk and Amelia came running over at my first call. We just had to get out of here.

As we started to walk away however, Amelia looked up at Eric and shouted "Are you staying at our house again tonight?" Did she not have a volume control? I turned back to wave to the three women who were standing there, staring pretty openly at me. Guess I wasn't going to the Christmas coffee-group barbecue then.

We made it back to the car without further incident and I got everyone in. Eric wanted to help get the pushchair back in the car, but couldn't figure out to collapse it, so I had to do that put for him. He did look really sweet though looking it over and trying to work out where the mechanism was, frowning the whole time and sort of muttering to himself. I'd forgotten the way men always thought they should be able to work everything, first time, without any instructions. It's funny the stuff you start to remember fondly when you're no longer dealing with it on a daily basis.

Once we were all safely stowed in the car Amelia started in. "I'm _starving_, Mummy."

"No you're not starving." I said "You're just a bit hungry."

"No. I'm STARVING."

Sometimes there really was no point arguing with her, she'd stand her ground no matter what.

"I'm starving and I want to go to a café" she continued on.

I turned to Eric. "Do you want to have lunch with us?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great, I know just the place."

I drove us all to Mt Albert and we all got out of the car again. Eric was starting to get the hang of getting kids in and out, although I noticed Amelia was lecturing him that he had to hold her hand because "There might be cars and I'd get runned over."

Then we were off to one of my favourite cafes, Trinity of Silver. It was set inside a rather weird '70's built former post office and run by people who were basically hippies, but the food was good and it wasn't too exorbitant.

Lunch was rather pleasant. Amelia managed to busy herself with the toys they had out so I got to chat to Eric briefly when I wasn't trying to shovel baby food into Felicia. I told him he'd been mistaken about Sebastian, that he was just a weird kid with a batty mother and he burst out laughing. I joined in, because it was pretty funny. Poor Sebastian.

We were heading back to the car when I spotted someone else I really didn't want to see. Crap. There are a million-odd people in Auckland, how come all the annoying ones were hanging around me today?

And we might have had a chance at going unnoticed, because she was busy giving the evil-eye to a pair of women in headscarves, who she obviously believed didn't belong in the suburb she'd lived in all her life. But Amelia, of course, doesn't miss much and cheerfully shouted "Nana!"

There was nothing for it; I'd have to go through this as well. Lorena came towards us, pulling her shopping trolley behind her.

"Hello, Sookie" she said, looking at Eric. "Fancy seeing you here today."

Yeah, fancy. "Hi Lorena. How are you? Are you over your stomach bug?" Please let her just want to talk about herself.

"Mmm-hmm. Much better now thank you" she was still staring at Eric. Poor guy was going to get a complex soon.

"Oh, this is Eric. I met him at work. He's from the States, I'm showing him around." I gabbled out, trying to make this brief. "Eric, this is my mother-in-law Lorena Compton." Eric put his hand out and Lorena ignored it.

Amelia shouted "Nana, we went to the zoo" Oh god, don't mention Eric staying with us.

"Yep, and now we've got to get Felicia home" I said starting to walk off. "Amelia, come on, there's marshmallows at home and you can have one if you get to the car now".

"Can I have two marshmallows?" Phew that distracted her.

"Yes you can. Bye Lorena."

"Mmm, bye Sookie. Bye Amelia sweetheart"

"Bye Nana. I'm getting a marshmallow." Thoroughly distracted, but going to be hyped up on sugar soon. Oh well.

We made it back to the car in one piece, Eric silent all the way. When we were driving off he lent over and asked "Is she always like that?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty much." She was, it wasn't just him being there.

It took a while to get everyone inside when we got home, and get Amelia her marshmallows (she never forgot a hastily promised bribe), and I left Eric to sort himself out while I attended to her and got her set up with some colouring in, and got Felicia down for a sleep in her cot. I found him in the living room staring at the photos in the china cabinet.

"When did he die?" he asked nodding to the wedding photo. Oh, were we doing this now? I guess I had to tell him something.

"Umm, about 6 months ago. Nearly 7 now. Car accident south of Auckland." I figured I'd just leave it at that for now.

Eric sat down on the couch. "Well you can't tell." What was he saying about me? That I'm hardly the grieving widow because I accost men in their hotel rooms? Possibly it's true, but I didn't want to be judged.

"What do you mean?" I asked a bit abruptly, sitting down on a chair at right-angles to him.

"Amelia seems….OK. You wouldn't know she's lost her dad. She doesn't seem…sad or anything."

Oh, right. "Yeah, she's pretty resilient. She was only just 3 when it happened, so I guess she'll remember him less and less as she gets older, which is sad." I stopped and just tried not to think about how sad it was. And I wasn't going to think at all about how sad it was for Felicia to have never known her dad.

Eric scooted over on the couch so he was closer to me and stroked my arm. "I think you're doing a great job. Amelia is fun, in an, annoying kind of way." He gave me a big smile and I smiled back, I couldn't help it.

"Yeah, she's very entertaining." And I told him the story of how trying to get her to say please had ended with her saying abracadabra instead, which made him really laugh. It was a huge treat to be able to share some of the funny stories with someone else. It was hard being the only person who ever got to find out how endearing my kids are.

So I spent the next 15 minutes or so telling Eric all the amusing stuff I could think of and he was very good and laughed in all the right places. I was going to miss him a lot.

But I couldn't keep him forever. "Well" I said "you'd better get going if you're going to make it there tonight."

"Yeah" he said "I guess so". He stood up. "I guess I'll see you when I get back then."

"Yep. Just give me a call and we'll sort out dinner."

We headed towards the front door where his bag was. I called Amelia to come and say goodbye and she hugged Eric's legs and said "Bye Eric" and ran off.

I turned to him and hugged him properly. He was warm and solid and intensely male. I could get used to hugging him.

"Bye Eric. Drive safe!" I said as brightly as could.

"Bye Sookie. I'll see you soon." He lent down and kissed me on the cheek. And then he was out the door and walking back to his rental car.

I closed the door and burst into tears.

**A/N It's always the way, isn't it? All the people you don't want to see show up.**

**So Huggies are diapers/nappies and Watties is basically Heinz. They just use the name of the New Zealand company they bought, so heaps of our canned food (and baby food) is Watties.**

**Grey Lynn is one of those inner-city suburbs which used to be very working class, and those who could moved out to the suburbs, so the artists and creative types moved in making it trendy, then the affluent middle class moved in making it expensive to live in.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N Just a very, very short chapter, all Eric.**

**Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine.**

EPOV

My day with Sookie and her kids had actually turned out pretty good. We'd had some weird encounters with Sookie's friends, one of whom had a defective kid, and an old battle-axe who was apparently the dead husband's mother. Poor fucker.

I was getting kind of used to Amelia's constant chatter and I was pretty sure the baby was called Alicia. Most of all I was just enjoying being around Sookie. When she was busy with the kids I could watch her and try to memorise all the things she did. The way her eyes went really wide when Amelia told a funny story, the way she'd giggle when the baby did that weird spitting thing, how she tried to look really stern when she was telling Amelia off, but failed completely, the way she'd smile at both of them when she thought they were being cute.

Best of all was when she smiled at me.

It felt so fucking wrong to leave her. I willed her to ask me to stay. I sat on her couch while she told me about her kids and I silently begged her to tell me to stay, but she didn't.

So I left. It felt wrong but I did it anyway. In my family we were pretty good at it.

On the drive south to Rotorua, I started to wonder if this wasn't for the best because no way in hell did I deserve Sookie Stackhouse. If maybe I'd been so fucked up for so many years that there was no hope for me?

Shit, it sucked to be driving right then. Bourbon is usually excellent at getting rid of those kinds of lame-ass thoughts. I really didn't want to psycho-analyse myself or any of that pussy shit.

So I tried to get my brain to focus on just staying on the left-hand side of the road. But it wasn't co-operating and it started to wander again.

I was pretty sure my mother hadn't been thrilled at my existence. Don't know; can't remember being a kid really. Just remember she was never around. Think she'd been a beauty queen before her marriage and didn't really like just being a mom.

She left when I was 7. With another guy she'd been on the PTA with.

His son was 10 and spent two weeks beating me up everyday after school because his mom couldn't get out of bed anymore. I was fucking thrilled when she moved the whole family away to go and live with her mother. My dad hadn't exactly noticed that I was coming home bloodied and bruised; he was too busy drinking himself into a stupor.

Thank god we had a housekeeper who at least noticed if I turned up or not.

However, the sitting at home drinking didn't last long. Pretty soon Dad was out drinking every night. He was, apparently, determined to find a replacement for my mother. It took him about two months and then some bottle-blonde moved in and declared she was my mom now.

To my eternal shame I was actually happy. I thought we'd get back to normal now.

I'm not sure how long she was with us, maybe 4 months? Then they started arguing and after a while she left too.

And the pattern kept repeating; sometimes he'd kick them out, more often than not he'd just torture them until they left of their own accord. I think he was angry that they weren't my mother. Whatever. Fuck. At any rate, there was a constant stream of women turning up, saying they were there for me, then disappearing off, never to be seen again.

And when they did leave, he'd fall straight back into his whisky bottle again, and spend his nights sitting in the dark and wanting me to reminisce about how great Candy, or Shelly, or Lola was.

As time wore on I stopped caring about them. And as Dad got older the women got nastier and the time they stayed shorter.

When I was 15 he even forgot that one hadn't moved out before he moved the next one in. I got home from school to find the pair of them tussling over suitcases and the one that had been living with us yelling "Eric! Tell her that I'm your step-mom!" I just turned and ran.

I think I walked around for about two hours until I ended up at Melanie Bowen's house and knocked on her window. That was the night I lost my virginity.

I guess I figured out that Dad was such a fuck-up I'd do better finding my own women, but I'd learnt one thing from him. Leave them before they leave you. I don't think I ever spoke to Melanie again.

But leaving Sookie was different, it was fucking horrible. I didn't know why. And that fucking scared the shit out of me.

By the time I reached Rotorua and found the motel I was staying at I'd almost convinced myself it had all been a mistake and I only liked Sookie because she was a mom and my mom was such a total fucked-up failure. That I was making a belated attempt to replace her and I should just keep my ass away from what was going to be a total fucking disaster. That sounded just enough like fucked-up shrink-speak to be true, right?

That line of thinking got me through an hour or so of sitting in the motel room watching crappy TV.

I felt so…desperate, I couldn't even muster the energy to go out and find a drink.

I got into bed and stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep a wink. I wondered what Sookie was doing now. I wondered if she missed me. I even wondered if Amelia had done anything funny after I left.

I slept fitfully and at 8am the next morning I got up, showered, grabbed my things and was checked out before 9am.

It must have been about 2pm when I knocked on Sookie's front door.

**Thanks for reading!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N Thank you again to all those who are following on with this. I realise that there's been (for the most part) a complete lack of lemons in this story, so far, but Eric and Sookie are getting there. **

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

EPOV

I'd prepared myself for a lot of reactions from Sookie on the drive back from Rotorua. Most of them involved her telling me to fuck off. I'd worked on some good comebacks for that one.

But I wasn't expecting her to just say "Come on in then" and walk off into the house. Right, so that was good, I thought.

I followed her into the living room where she'd apparently started back on the ironing she must have been doing before I arrived. There were piles of clothes over the most of the surfaces and even Alicia who was sitting on the floor seemed to waving some laundry. Was that a bra? Best not to look.

I moved a pile of clothes and sat on the couch. The TV was on and we seemed to be watching some kind of home improvement program.

After a while Sookie spoke "How was Rotorua?"

"Not as good as I hoped." More silence. Maybe this wasn't going so well.

"Can I get you a drink? Maybe a coffee?"

Ugh, that instant shit again. I shook my head.

"Something cold, maybe? Sprite or I think there might be some Coke?"

"Uh, yeah. Coke'll be fine."

She went off and came back with a glass, which she handed to me, and then she went back to the ironing.

"So, Eric, can I ask you a question?"

Right, here it comes. When someone says that it's never good, but somehow you're not allowed to just say 'no thanks, don't ask'.

"Sure."

"Why did you come back here?"

OK, I was prepared for this one. I took a deep breath and just plunged in. "Yeah, it was really quiet without you guys. I kind of missed Amelia going on, you know? She's quite special." Shit, in my head that sounded better, now I was worried that I sounded like a paedophile.

"Uh-huh. So you thought you'd come back here, and what exactly? Hang out with us some more?"

"Well yeah. I thought about that, uh, homestay thing you mentioned a while back and wondered if it was, um, actually on offer?" Please say yes, please say yes.

"You want to stay here with me and the kids rather than actually go out and, I don't know, try bungy jumping and white water rafting and all the other stuff tourists do?"

"Yeah. Might be fun. I could, um, help you with…stuff?"

Sookie looked a bit dubious at that statement. "You really want to stay here, kids and everything? You haven't even seen the spare bed yet."

Why did I want to see the spare bed? Oh. Right.

"Oh, I'm sure it will be OK."

"Yeah, I dunno. Come and have a look." Sookie put the iron down and walked out of the room and I followed. We stopped in the door way of a small room down the hall. Oh, I did see what she meant. Wow that was a small bed, in a very crowded room. With bare walls that needed painting. And still had paint cans sitting on the floor.

"I could paint the room for you?"

"Have you ever painted a room before?"

"Sort-of. I'll be fine." No, but how hard could it be, right? I had an MBA for fuck's sake.

Sookie just raised her eyebrows at me. "I'll be fine!" I said, a bit indignantly.

She started walking back to the living room just as we heard the squealing start.

"Boy" I said "Alicia is loud".

"Felicia"

"What?"

"Her name's Felicia. You've been listening to Amelia call her Leesha. I guess the accent confused you."

"Yeah, I guess Amelia had it wrong…"

I sat back down on the couch and Sookie started the ironing again. There was silence for a bit. I finished my Coke.

"So, can I stay?"

"Yeah, alright. But you're staying in the spare room at my discretion. If you upset the kids you are out. If you piss me off you are out. And no drinking. I don't need you falling over drunk like you were the other night. Where were you drinking anyway and how did you get here from there?"

Uh-oh

"And more to the point, how did you find where I lived?"

"You told me the street you lived in when I bumped into you…" that was true.

"But not which house. You did follow me, didn't you? Were you sitting out there drinking all afternoon?"

"Not ALL afternoon…"

"Urgh. You were just lucky Andy from next door didn't see you. He's in the police. You'd probably be on a plane back to the States now."

Yeah, if going to Rotorua was hard that didn't bear thinking about.

"So, I can get my stuff out of the car?"

"Yeah, and then we're going to go and get Amelia from pre-school. It's a nice day so we'll walk there."

Right, guess I was officially Sookie's homestay then.

SPOV

I managed to pull myself together pretty quickly after Eric left; I didn't need a curious Amelia asking me why I was upset. It had been hard enough when Bill died and she'd caught me crying a few times. I tried to confine it to the dead of night.

After that I just busied myself in the usual afternoon routine. Amelia chattered, Felicia squealed, dinners needed preparing, and there was laundry to do. But it was very lonely all the same. I'd had that brief taste of adult company and I liked it and wanted it back.

Not to mention that Eric was nice to hug. And I seemed to remember he was a pretty good kisser too. Oh, see thinking this sort of thing just gets me in trouble every time.

So I plodded on with my evening. At bedtime Amelia asked if Eric was coming back, and I said no, he'd gone away now.

"To the same place as Daddy?"

"No, definitely not. Eric's just gone on holiday."

"So…he'll come back and stay here after that?"

"No, then he'll go back to where he came from."

"Is that where Daddy is?"

Oh, how did I explain this? "No, Eric just lives in another country. Daddy, ummm, Daddy died and went to heaven."

"Oh"

"Daddy loved you very much and was sad to leave you and Felicia." I hoped that was the right thing to say, I was trying to remember what the books had said.

"Does Eric love me?"

OK, no books for this one.

"Yes". Well he'd never know. So shoot me.

Unfortunately there was no one to tuck me in and tell me it was going to be OK. I told myself I wasn't going to be sad, I was going to be brave and just accept that I'd had a nice day at the zoo, and wasn't that proof my life didn't suck totally?

I wish I had been more convincing.

The sun came up and life went on. Amelia went to pre-school and Felicia and I had a fun day planned with the laundry. The weather was warm and it was starting to feel like summer was about to arrive. I focussed on the good things we had.

But I knew it was him at the door as soon as I heard the knock.

It didn't mean I knew what to say to him though. I was almost afraid he hadn't come back for me, that he'd come back for a misplaced shoe or a left razor. So at first I couldn't bring myself to ask him why he was here, in case I didn't like the answer.

Until it got too much and I had to know. Apparently he came back for Amelia's chattering. So he was just lonely. Fine, he could stay in the spare room.

I could do this, he'd stay here for a couple of weeks, I'd show him Auckland for a bit then he'd leave. We'd be friends and I'd try really hard not to jump him again because that's not what friends do.

But friends talk in the evenings and that would be nice.

As I said, I was going to focus on the good things.

And Eric staying would almost certainly be a good thing. I hoped.

**So far so good!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N Thank you for all the lovely reviews! Sorry I have been a bit slack at replying but I was working on this, and people kept wanting things from me (yeah, my kids expect to be fed).**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

EPOV

I had no idea how anyone ever managed to get any sleep in this house. Aside from the fact I was crammed into the world's smallest bed, which seemed to have been fashioned entirely from rocks, there appeared to be constant comings and goings at all hours of the night.

The baby, which was definitely Felicia, kept waking up and wailing and I'd hear Sookie get up and pad down the hall to her on bare feet. Then there'd be a lot of shushing and singing before it all went quiet again and the feet padded back to where they came from.

At least once some smaller feet were stomping around and I discovered that even when Amelia tries to whisper it's a shout.

I wondered how Sookie ever functioned during the day.

And it wasn't helped by the fact that, even when it was quiet, I couldn't sleep knowing that Sookie was just there in the next room. I'd glimpsed her bed through the open doorway earlier and I could picture her in it, curled up and alone. I wanted to be in it with her. And the thought of being so close to her soft, warm body would get me hard as hell, and there wasn't much I could do for that problem stuck in this lumpy bed and surrounded by people who walked the earth all fucking night long. So I'd just have to concentrate on boring shit and will it away.

Fuck it was a long night. By the time the light was pouring through the curtains that might has well have been made of tissue paper, I felt like I'd slept for about twenty minutes total. I got up, threw on some jeans and went out to find everyone else in the kitchen and family room, looking bright and happy.

Amelia whizzed past on a scooter and Felicia was sitting on the floor shaking something that made a noise and laughing her ass off. Sookie was bustling round in the kitchen, making toast and cereal and yelling at Amelia not to scoot anywhere near her sister. She hadn't noticed me yet.

"Hi" I said.

"Oh, morning Eric, did you sleep OK? We didn't keep you up, did we? Felicia had a bad night; she's getting her front teeth…AMELIA! What did I say about getting that close to Felicia?"

"Uh, yeah. I slept fine."

"OK, well have a seat. Do you want coffee, and uh, it's toast or cereal?"

Oh, that coffee was going to kill me. "Um, just some toast."

I sat down at the table and Amelia bounced over to tell me a long rambling story about something that had happened at pre-school. I was only half-listening and just said 'uh-huh" a few times. Apparently that was OK.

When Sookie brought over my toast she sat down with a cup of coffee. Despite looking tired, she looked lovely in the sun that was coming in through the big glass doors. I really wanted to kiss her but that hadn't been mentioned in the list of conditions yesterday, although maybe it came under don't piss her off. At any rate I didn't want to risk it.

However, I was going to broach another subject. "Sookie" I said, "Do you think we could get some decent coffee? I mean, I'll pay, it's just…you know…" I trailed off not wanting to insult her hostess skills too much.

She laughed. "Yeah, we can do that. I wanted to go to the supermarket anyway today for a few things."

"Oh, I'll pay for it. You know, because it's for me. And I'm staying here and shit…"

"Yeah, yeah, it's fine." She seemed to be thinking about something and she looked a bit sad. Trying to snap her out of it I said "Didn't you just get groceries on Monday?"

Her head snapped around as she looked at me "How do you know that?"

Shit. "Um, the stalking thing…."

She laughed again. "I had no idea you were out there. Wow. I wonder if anyone else is sitting out there watching me."

She seemed to find that idea hilarious. I didn't. If there was anyone else watching her I'd kill them, I was pretty sure of that. Still, she was laughing, probably at me, but it was better than being sad.

She was still chuckling to herself as she took the dishes into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher. Sookie's fat lump of a cat appeared through the cat door and looked at me for a long time before stalking off to his food bowl. He was a weird-ass cat.

Sookie saw me looking and said "You're not allergic are you? To Bob?"

Who names their cat Bob? 'No, it's just he's really…..fat."

"Yeah, well. He was the last creature to turn up on my doorstep and that's what happened to him. You'd better watch out!" She thought that was really funny and was off laughing again. I joined in half-heartedly. I was being compared to the _cat_. Fucking fantastic.

We dropped Amelia at pre-school and headed on to what I assumed was the supermarket. After parking, Sookie grabbed a whole lot of reusable shopping bags out of the trunk of the car and handed them to me before getting Felicia out. She must have thought I was wondering why we needed them because she pointed at the sign on the side of the building. "It's Pak N Save. That says it all really. Oh, and its pension day, so you know, brace yourself."

Brace myself for what exactly?

I figured it out pretty quickly once we got inside. Old people, lots of them, just wandering aimlessly. Lots of old men mostly. One of them tried to take me out with his shopping trolley. Could he really not see me standing there? Sookie just laughed, and then bent down to pick up the rattle Felicia had thrown from where she was sitting in a seat attached to the trolley. OK, well Sookie bending over cheered me up a bit.

About half way round I was ready to leave, but Sookie kept meandering looking for 'specials'. Honestly, there was nothing special about this place. We had the coffee in the trolley, couldn't we just go?

So I was lagging a bit behind, having been distracted for a while by trying to find a cereal that looked anything like the ones I was used to from the States. When I caught up to Sookie she was talking to one of the old guys, one who was perched on a motorised scooter thing, and it appeared that he'd asked her to get something from a high shelf for him. Only she was struggling to reach it.

I walked over and got down the can of fruit her fingertips had been grazing and handed it to her. "Oh, thanks Eric!" She said "You're so useful!" She beamed at me, but not for long enough, as then she turned to give the old guy his can and beamed at him instead.

"Thanks, love" he said. Then he looked at me and said "Your wife is lovely. You're very lucky." He gave a wistful sort of smile and scooted off. Oh.

Sookie pretended not to notice what he'd said and turned back to Felicia and started pushing the trolley again but that old guy had made me realise something. All those skanky step-moms my dad had brought home, they weren't just for me. They were for him too. He was scared of being one of these old fuckers whose weekly highlight is shuffling round a depressing supermarket looking for company.

More frighteningly, I thought that maybe I was destined to be one of them too. Because Sookie wasn't mine. She was far from being fucking mine. And if I couldn't make her mine I'd be stuck alone forever, because I couldn't imagine wanting anyone else as much as I wanted Sookie Stackhouse. Fuck.

I managed to shake off the shitty introspective mood I'd fallen into and make it round the rest of the supermarket. Sookie got me to get a few more things off shelves for her, some of the stuff I was pretty sure even she could reach. But at least I was being useful. Maybe she'd keep me around for this alone.

We got home and Sookie said she'd make us some lunch. She made sandwiches and took them out on the deck. The day was warm and it was nice just sitting there. I was starting to wonder why I'd bothered going to work all those years.

"So, Eric" Sookie started "I feel like I know sod all about you. Tell me about, um, your family."

Oh fuck, did I have to? "Well, I'm an only child, and it's just really me and my dad left."

"Um, oh, you lost your mum?"

"Well, actually my dad lost her" I laughed bitterly. "Um, she left. When I was 7. I don't really remember her."

Sookie seemed a bit lost for words. "Oh. Oh, that's pretty horrible. I couldn't imagine doing that. So you don't see her?"

"Nope. Haven't seen her since. Dad had some, um, girlfriends, who lived with us, but no one permanent."

"So do you see him much?"

"No, not really. We…we don't really see eye to eye." I didn't want to go there. "So what about your family?"

"Oh, well I lost my parents when I was 20 in a boating accident…"

"A boating accident?"

"Yeah, it was stupid. They should have been wearing their life-jackets. I mean, we live on an island, there's a lot of publicity about water safety, but somehow they just, didn't. And they drowned. So I was angry at them for a while for leaving me, you know? Because it was so senseless. But I got over it. Although it was hard when I had Amelia. I wanted my mum, and I wished they'd got to see their grandkids."

I wanted to ask if she was angry at the dead husband too, but decided not to push my luck. "So, have you got any brothers or sisters?"

"An older brother, Jason. He's farming down in Taranaki, so I don't see him very often. Without our parents to bring us together we don't have much in common, so it's just easier to stay apart and not have to deal with the fact we lost them. Well, that's I what think anyway. Maybe he's just a fuckwit who can't be bothered with me." She laughed briefly and I figured that was the end of the discussion and we should move on.

"So, um, thanks again for letting me stay here. It's great."

"Even though I made you go to Pak N Save?" she laughed.

"Yeah, even with that. Although I don't think I want to go back there. Ever." She laughed again.

"Well I guess this holiday is a bit different than what you planned, but at least you'll be able to sympathise with housewives now! And you've had practice kids. So you'll be a total catch."

"Practice kids?"

"Yeah, you know, someone else's kids who you can practice with, before you have your own. I practiced on my friend Tara's kids. All care, no responsibility. It's great. So now when you have your own kids, you'll at least be prepared. For the constant talking if nothing else."

"Oh" I got the impression Sookie was trying to set me up as Shreveport's most eligible bachelor or something. It didn't feel good. "I, uh, haven't really thought about having my own kids."

"Yeah, I guess a lot of guys don't, until it happens. One day when you meet a nice girl you'll want them."

I had met a nice girl. She was sitting right next to me. Trying to tell me I should be off impregnating someone else. I really wanted to shut down this bit of the conversation.

"I, uh, don't think I have that, um, desire to have kids. You know, because of my parents and what happened and shit…plus the fact I have no clue what to do with them."

"Well you're doing OK with Amelia. She adores you. And one day it will all click into place. Don't worry. I'm sure you have some paternal instincts buried in there somewhere." Sookie patted my arm in a kind of consoling way and smiled at me. Great, now she thought I was total fucking loser.

We chatted about other stuff for a while then Sookie took our dishes inside and I lay back on the sun lounger I was sitting on. It was so quiet. I guess most people were at work, so there were only the birds and the far off traffic noise and the sound of a hammer. Occasionally you'd hear a kid but that was it. God, the suburbs are really peaceful.

SPOV

Well so far it was going OK with Eric. He'd looked a bit lost again in the morning, I guess it's pretty hard to just slot in with someone else's family. But he was doing OK and had even survived the special hell that is Pak N Save on pension day. Although he did look really funny giving the evil eye to an old bloke that nearly rammed him with a trolley. And he was good for getting stuff off the high shelves, although I may have got him to do that for me more than was needed, just to stop him wandering off too much. I didn't want to lose him on the first full day I had him.

I did feel a bit bad that I wasn't taking him out to show him anything touristy, but sadly my exciting life as a housewife had to go on. Although if my husband is dead, does that make me a housewidow? Yeah, there wasn't a word for that, was there. It was weird being a widow, I felt conspicuous and invisible at the same time. Even though I might have moaned about it at the time, I liked being defined as a wife a lot better. Secretly I actually liked it when that old guy at Pak N Save called me Eric's wife, and I was grateful that Eric didn't correct him, as it was a nice little fantasy for a while.

I should probably stop having fantasies about Eric. But when he goes they'll be all I have left.

We had a nice lunch on the deck, although the conversation was pretty sad. Eric seemed to have had a completely stuffed up childhood and now wanted to cut himself off from ever having a family. I tried to tell him he'd be fine, he was great with Amelia (better than Bill had been in some ways) and one day it would all fall into place. It did bring home to me though that I'd have to let him go if he was ever to going to have that family of his own. I just kept repeating 'I can't get attached' in my head like my own personal mantra. I wasn't sure it was working.

Then Eric managed to fall asleep on the sun lounger. I wondered if maybe we had kept him up over night. I angled the sun umbrella so he was mostly in the shade and left him to it, until it was time to go and get Amelia. He was a bit startled when I woke him up, and looked really cute and confused, and then embarrassed when he realised what he'd done. But I told him it was fine. He was on holiday and should take advantage of the rest.

The rest of the day went much as the day before; we got Amelia and she talked at us for about an hour straight. She was enjoying having Eric around as well, and if Felicia could talk she'd probably say she was enjoying having someone else for Amelia to focus her attention on for a while.

I made spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, which was one of Amelia's favourites. She helped and Eric sat at the breakfast bar and drank one of the beers we'd bought earlier in the day. Felicia sat and refused to crawl. It was all terribly domestic and felt very comfortable. It was almost hard to remember what it was like before we had Eric here.

And after dinner, when the kids were safely tucked away, was even better. I had Eric all to myself. There was a brief fight over the remote control when he didn't agree with my choice of viewing. That ended up with him tickling me until I handed it over. When he was leaning over me I really wanted to kiss him, but knew that would just be a stupid mistake to make.

The rest of the evening went peacefully. We tried out the new coffee we'd bought, chatted and just enjoyed each other's company. Eventually though, I had to head off to bed. I didn't know what Felicia would have in store for me tonight.

EPOV

I felt like a dick for falling asleep on Sookie's deck, but she was pretty good about it. She was pretty good about most things really. I was actually having a lot of fun just hanging out with her and the kids. And I had a really enjoyable time tickling her when she wouldn't give me the remote control. With all the squirming she did it took all my self control not to just pin her to the couch and fuck her senseless. I was pretty disappointed when she gave up and handed the remote over because it was the best opportunity I'd had to touch her since the night in my hotel room nearly a week earlier.

So I ended up in my fucking awful kid's bed alone again and prepared myself for another sleepless night. Sure enough Felicia started wailing and I heard Sookie go and tend to her. The same thing happened a few more times; usually just as I was starting to finally drift off.

But then Felicia wailed again. And wailed and wailed and wailed. But there was no Sookie, I didn't hear her footsteps. Felicia was still wailing and I didn't know what to do. But something told me I should get up, so I did, and headed over to her room.

I thought maybe I'd just stick my head in the door and tell her it was OK, I'd get her mom. But as I went into Felicia's room I thought, shit, would Sookie freak out if I went wandering into her room in the middle of the night? Maybe that would just cause her to freak out?

By this time Felicia had seen me from where she was in her crib and was wailing harder. Fuck. I tried to back away, but she held her arms out to be picked up. I really didn't like the crying and wanted it to stop. Why hadn't I just pretended to be asleep?

Almost on auto-pilot I reached in and lifted her out. I sort of held her front of me and we regarded each other for a bit, me not sure what to do with her next. I remembered all the shushing and singing that I'd heard from Sookie. "Ssssh" I tried.

Felicia just started crying again, tears pouring out of those eyes which are just duplicates of Sookie's. Fuck. There was nothing for it. I held her to my chest and tried again "Sssh" and I hummed a bit, feeling as awkward as hell. That stopped the crying though. She put her tiny head on my shoulder and started to suck her fingers. Well I'd fixed the initial problem but didn't know what was next. I started to sort of sway with her in my arms, like I'd seen Sookie do a few times.

I was so busy pondering how I could get out of this, that I didn't notice at first that Sookie had appeared in the room. "Oh, Eric" she said "Thank you so much. I must have been sleeping really deeply this time; she's been up a lot the last few nights. Sorry, it's not really your job. But see, I told you one day your paternal instinct would kick in. Looks like you're hard-wired to respond to a crying baby, just like the rest of us."

I just stared at her. She looked all warm and soft and sleepy. She was wearing tiny cotton shorts as pyjama bottoms and a tank top with no bra underneath, through which I could clearly make out her nipples. Better even than the no bra, was the fact the tank top was too large for her, and when she lifted her arms up to take Felicia off me, I got a fucking awesome view of side-boob. Side-boob that looked soft and plump and which I desperately wanted to touch, or maybe nuzzle. Or lick.

That line of thinking needed to stop, as I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be feeling aroused while holding a baby. I really hoped that Sookie wasn't going to look down about now, but she took Felicia off me and said "Thanks again Eric, you're wonderful." And she kissed me. On the shoulder through my t-shirt, but even so.

"Uh, yeah, no problem." I stammered and I took off back to my lonely little bed.

A little while later I heard Sookie going back to her room and I managed to fight back to the urge to follow her.

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N A big thank you to all those who are supporting this story. This is the first story I've ever written, and it means a great deal to me.**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.**

SPOV

It was a bit of a shock finding Eric holding Felicia when I got to her room in the middle of the night. I felt really guilty that he'd got there before me. I also felt a rather huge wave of desire for Eric which I had to suppress. I told myself it was just a programmed response to seeing a hot guy with a baby – didn't they used to sell posters like that? Yeah, if you were a woman you were supposed to like that picture a lot.

That's what I kept telling myself when I went back to bed and wished Eric had come with me. Maybe I should just get one of those posters?

Thankfully Felicia settled for the rest of the night. It was just me who couldn't sleep. Especially after I remembered that I'd kissed Eric, on the arm or the shoulder or something. Shit. I had been half asleep and I just didn't think.

Must do better Sookie.

So I felt a bit awkward when Eric got up the next morning but he seemed OK. Probably cheered up immensely by the prospect of actual coffee, which he busied himself making. I took a deep breath and decided that right, we were just going to push on and pretend it never happened.

When I fed Felicia I did a quick tooth-check. "I think the other front tooth is through, so we might be OK tonight. No more crying in the middle of the night, which would be nice!"

Eric nodded his head, so I said "And, uh, thanks again for helping last night Eric. You really didn't have to."

"Oh, no problem" he said, and went back to making the coffee.

Unfortunately I needed to do some chores so it wasn't going to be an exciting morning for anyone. I told Eric to just hand over any washing he had, and I'll chuck it in with ours. He was a bit reluctant but I told him to just shut up and give it to me.

So I left Eric reading the paper and stripped the beds and put the washing on, and then I went to clean the bathrooms. Amelia decided she would help, although her enthusiasm tends to wane pretty quickly. Eric must have wondered what we were doing as he poked his head in the door. He looked past me cleaning the vanity to where Amelia was standing in the shower cubicle, cloth and bottle of cleaner in hand. Of course it was a bit hard to make her out because of the amount of cleaner she'd sprayed on the shower walls, which I'd have to fix later on, but she thought she was helping.

"Uh…is that OK?" he asked, pointing at Amelia.

"Yeah, it's fine" I said. "Amelia loves to clean!"

"Oh, right. Can I do anything?"

"No, we're nearly done here. You can help me hang out the washing though when it finishes."

EPOV

I spent a lot of the night thinking about Sookie, and how she looked in her tank top, and the kiss on the shoulder she'd given me. I just couldn't figure out what I should do next. Did she want me? Or did she really just think we were friends? I was having a hard time reading the situation and it was killing me.

In the morning though she seemed to be playing the friends angle. At least she didn't tell me to keep the hell away from her baby in future.

Friday seemed to be housework day and Sookie threw herself into it. As did Amelia. I didn't know you could get kids to do stuff like that, it seemed pretty useful. Sookie got a bit defensive when I asked her about it, but I wasn't about to report her for the abuse of any child labour laws.

I did realise though that if Amelia was helping I probably should be too, so Sookie said I could help hang out laundry. There was a lot of laundry. I managed to keep away from anything that looked like it might be Sookie's underwear, but there was a seemingly endless pile of kid's clothes to keep me busy.

I held up something impossibly tiny "I didn't know they made socks this small!"

"Yeah" said Sookie "but you should see the newborn sized ones! They're even worse. I should get some out of the box of baby stuff for you to see, before I get rid of it all."

"Get rid of it?"

"Well I need to sell it or give it away, there's no point me keeping a lot of baby things I'm not going to use again."

"So…you don't want to have more kids then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I would have, if things were different, because I like kids and I always liked the idea of a big family. But the ways things worked out for me I don't have anyone to have them with, so, I guess Amelia and Felicia are it for me."

I wanted to say that I'd have kids with her, but I thought that might sound really weird considering we'd never had sex. So I just went with "Oh" and went back to what I was doing.

As we came inside Amelia came skipping out of her bedroom "I wasn't bouncing on my bed" she announced, looking straight at Sookie. Sookie's eyes went wide and I could tell she was holding back a laugh.

"Right" she said "Well that's good, because I'd be grumpy if I knew you had been."

"But I wasn't" said Amelia "so it's OK" and with that she flounced off.

Sookie looked at me and we both burst out laughing. "Oh, she's going to have to get better than that at being sneaky before she hits her teenage years!" Sookie said.

We were just finishing lunch when it started to pour with rain. 'Shit, the washing!" Sookie yelled "Come on!"

We dashed outside and started pulling everything off the line. Only by the time we'd finished we were pretty soaked ourselves. We dashed back inside and I put the washing basket I was carrying down and tried to shake the worst of the water off me.

Sookie was laughing. "I think the washing is wetter now than when we put it out. It will have to go in the dryer. Just once I'd like to get everything dry first go."

I was still standing there dripping, wondering where on earth the rain had come from. Then all of a sudden it stopped. Sookie re-appeared from putting the stuff in the dryer just in time to watch the sun burst through again.

"Um" I said "It's sunny now. Is that normal?"

"Yep, it is for here. Four seasons in one day, like the song, you know?"

I didn't, so I shook my head. "Is that a New Zealand song?"

"Kind of, some of the band are New Zealanders."

Sookie took off again and reappeared with an older model iPod which she attached to the stereo in the corner.

"Here you go; I'll play it for you."

I sat down to listen and Sookie went to clean up the kitchen. When the guy sang "You can take me where you will, up the creek and through the mill" I looked over at Sookie. I knew how that guy felt.

"So what did you think?" Sookie asked when it finished.

"Yeah, it's great, very, um, haunting."

Amelia appeared and wanted 'her' music on, so Sookie came over to put on some kind of pop music. Amelia entertained us all with some enthusiastic dancing. Then she got Sookie to get up and join her. That was even more entertaining; Sookie really knew how to dance and there was a lot of shaking and wiggling and I could quite happily have sat and watched that all day. Unfortunately Amelia decided I needed to join in too, which was a bit awkward, but I did my best to shake off feeling self-conscious.

"It could be worse" Sookie said "she could have insisted on The Wiggles."

Later in the afternoon Sookie drove us to somewhere called Mission Bay where we walked along looking at the sea (well Felicia got pushed and Amelia scooted), then had a picnic dinner of fish and chips next to a large fountain.

It had been sunny since the shower earlier and the evening was pleasant. I sat back and looked around at all the other people out enjoying it. There was a large group of guys playing football, some people still in suits who'd obviously just come from work, some couples holding hands and lots and lots of young families. Families who looked pretty much identical to the little group I was part of on this picnic blanket.

I wondered if there had always been this many families around and if I just hadn't noticed them? Maybe I hadn't been in the right places to see them before. At any rate I found myself looking at them and feeling jealous. Jealous because I finally knew what I wanted and I couldn't figure out how to get it.

SPOV

Eric was doing his best to fit in with us; he'd helped with the laundry and been pretty good about hanging out with Amelia. I figured though that he needed to see a bit more of Auckland so I suggested a trip to Mission Bay and fish and chips for dinner. Amelia was ecstatic to be getting fish and chips and happily munched away. I guess it was because I didn't cook it myself.

The trip out wore the two kids out and they collapsed into bed pretty quickly when we got home. Eric and I had just finished having coffee when the phone rang. I went into the kitchen to answer it.

"Oh, hi Sookie, it's Judith" said the voice on the other end.

"Oh, hi, how's it going?"

"Great. I just, um, rang to ask a favour". Judith said that she and Calvin wanted to go and look at bathroom fittings on Saturday afternoon and asked if I could have Jessica because toddlers and building supply stores don't mix. I couldn't really say no, because I owed them a lot for having both of my kids the previous weekend, so I said sure, no problem, drop her around.

We chatted for a bit longer, she told me about the renovations that were going slowly at their place because Calvin was far more interested earning money working on other people's houses. But they did need the money for their wedding in February, so that led on to talking about how the wedding plans were going.

Finally Judith said, somewhat casually "So, I spoke to Mum and she said she saw you in Mt Albert on Monday."

"Uh, yeah. We'd been to the zoo then we called in to Trinity of Silver for lunch."

"She, um, she said there was a guy with you?"

Oh, crap. "Yeah, that was Eric. He's, um, a consultant from the States. I met him when I was working and he needed a tour guide, so I volunteered to take him to the zoo."

"So he's gone back to the States now?"

Aargh. I couldn't lie. Not unless I was going to make him hide in the bathroom when they came around the next day. But it was kind of hard to explain how he ended up staying here. I guess I had to try.

"Well no, he's actually staying here with us, uh, in the study for a bit. He was lonely in a hotel." OK, maybe a lonely man in a hotel is not the right image to put in Judith's mind. She'll think I'm running some kind of escort business.

Judith was silent for a bit. "So, he's staying with you?"

"Yeah, because we're friends"

"So you're not, um, _with_ him"

"No. NO. He's a lot younger than me, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't want a relationship with me. It's not happening. "

"Yeah, sorry. I don't want to pry. It's just weird, I mean, I was what, 12, when you and Bill started going out? And he was my big brother. So I know that you might move on, but I can't imagine you not being Bill's."

"Yeah, well, I'm not moving on. Certainly not with Eric."

"OK, well, we'll be round tomorrow afternoon then."

"Yep, see you then."

I put the phone down and and turned around just in time to see Eric leave the kitchen.

EPOV

I didn't mean to eavesdrop on Sookie; I just wanted to take the empty cups into the kitchen. But when I got there all I could hear was Sookie telling someone in no uncertain terms that there was no hope for us, that she would never want me.

I was so angry. I couldn't understand how she could say these things after the last few days. Didn't she feel how right this was? Because I did. I belonged with her like I'd never belonged anywhere else in my life and she just wanted to kick me out.

I went into the stupid excuse for a bedroom I was in. Fuck. I wanted to leave, but I couldn't walk out without telling Sookie something. I wanted a drink, but I'd have to leave to get one, and then she'd wonder why I'd gone. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

So I just lay there, on the rocky bed and wondered what the hell I needed to do to get Sookie to see me as more than some kid who needed company. I couldn't think of anything.

After a while I heard lights turning off and the sound of Sookie going to bed. I figured I should get some sleep too. Felicia seemed to be having a good night and I managed to get a couple of hour's sleep before something woke me up.

It took me a while to place what the noise was. I was used to Felicia's ear-splitting wails or Amelia's shouted whispers but this was different. This was Sookie. And she was crying. Shit.

I really hated crying women. I'd seen a fair few of the skanky step-moms lose it and it was never pretty and there was never anything I could do about it. And then there were the women I'd made cry, the ones I'd slept with and never called again. Occasionally I'd run into them later, usually at a bar, and their faces would crumple when they saw me. Then they'd be surrounded by their friends trying to console them, and occasionally one of the friends would be dispatched to tell me what an asshole I was, usually accompanied by much finger-pointing in my direction. I really didn't enjoy that part, but managed to turn it into a game, to see if I could get any of the finger-pointing friends to come home with me. I had a pretty high success rate.

But I didn't really care about any of those women. I really cared about Sookie. As angry as I was, I didn't want to sit and listen to her cry. So I got out of bed and headed to her room. I pushed the door open just a bit and stuck my head in.

"Uh, Sookie, are you OK?"

Sookie was sitting up in bed with her legs under the covers. She looked at me, tears streaming down her face, and just said "Oh Eric, everything's such a huge mess!"

I stopped being angry. Now all I felt was a huge desire to just make her feel better. Without thinking I went and sat next to her on the bed and put my arms around her. She put her head on my chest and just sobbed without abandon, I could feel her body shaking with the effort.

I wanted to say something to make it better, but I wasn't really sure what the problem was so I just stayed silent and rubbed her back instead. She felt nice in my arms. It would have been better though if she wasn't crying quite so much. I hoped she stopped soon.

After a while she pulled away and said "Sorry" in a very small voice, and reached over for a box of tissues off the bedside table. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose and I just waited for her to say something else because I sure as hell didn't know what was going on here.

She looked at me. "Thanks Eric. Thanks for just letting me cry it out and not trying to tell me to just cheer up and get over it."

"Uh, yeah, no problem". I guess I'd done something right.

Sookie continued. "It's just...it's just so unfair. I mean, I feel like I'm just stuck in limbo forever because of fucking Bill. He left me, you know?"

I shook my head, I didn't know.

"Well I sort of kicked him out. Because he wouldn't choose me and the kids. He was um, doing drugs, and I wanted him to choose us and get better. But he didn't, he wouldn't get help, and I couldn't help him, and now my life is totally fucked up and my kids will probably hate me when they grow up and my in-laws think I'm a slut because you're staying here and it's just not fair!"

I guess that explains the phone call in part then. That horrible woman from Monday must have been giving her a hard time.

"I didn't ask for any of this! This wasn't what I signed up for when I was 18! But no one cares about that, they just worry that I might desecrate Bill's memory. When he didn't even give a flying fuck about me or his kids!" She was really getting worked up now. I was a bit scared about what was going to come next. But then she stopped and just, deflated. Like all the fight had gone out of her.

"I shouldn't be burdening you with this. It's not your problem my life is a mess."

"They won't hate you, you know" I said.

"What?"

"Amelia and Felicia. They won't hate you. You're a wonderful mother, you really are." I tried to look at her in a way which showed how sincere I was but Sookie pulled a face and went "Pfft."

She blew her nose again and then looked at me. "Oh, Eric, your shirt is soaked through! I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's no problem." I said, and without thinking I just pulled it off. "See, all fixed."

Sookie just stared at my chest and mumbled "Um, yeah" then looked away.

"So, Bill was doing drugs?" I had suddenly caught up with that part of the conversation and wanted to make sure I had it right.

"Yeah, P. Methamphetamine. Not pleasant for any of us. He wasn't the type you would have picked to be a drug addict. I wouldn't have been with him if he was. But something happened and I'll never know what. I just wish... I just wish I could have seen it sooner and stopped it when I had a chance…."

She was crying again, just silent tears this time. I pulled her back to my chest.

"Sssh. It wasn't your job, he needed to help himself." Fuck, if he couldn't give up drugs for Sookie then he really hadn't deserved her. What a complete fucking moron.

Sookie had by now curled herself completely against me and I laid us down so we were lying side by side. This felt really good. I hoped she wouldn't suddenly kick me out.

I swear that I only wanted to cheer her up a bit. And show her that she was lovely and I wanted her. So I bent my head down and I kissed her. After a few seconds she opened her mouth and responded and allowed me to slip my tongue into her mouth. Well that was even nicer.

But she still seemed a bit sad. And I really wanted to cheer her up and make her feel good about herself. I may have based my next move on what would make me feel good.

"Sookie" I whispered "just let me touch you, OK? I just want to make you feel good."

She didn't say anything but she nodded yes. I slid my hand inside the waistband of her shorts and stroked her gently. She didn't flinch or push me away so I did it again. She was just watching me.

A ran a finger between her folds. Definite moisture, that was good. I placed a fingertip on her clit and made a circular motion. Sookie's lips opened and she rolled onto her back and parted her legs to give me better access.

I became less tentative after that. I moved my finger a little faster and she moaned. I inserted one, then two fingers inside of her and felt how wet she was. Fuck, I was so hard now too.

All the while I kept watching her face and those big blue eyes of hers were just staring straight back at me. I wanted to kiss her again, but my over-riding desire was to see what she looked like when she came, when I made her come. So I couldn't look away.

I pumped my fingers in and out of her and used my thumb on her clit. She pressed her thighs together, locking my hand in place. She started to breathe faster and faster, her back arched, she moaned ever so slightly and whispered, "Oh god, Eric!" and then she came. She came and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.

SPOV

When Eric started to touch me, I just melted. I couldn't have told him to go if I wanted to. I don't know if it was just a physical response to his closeness, to the fact he'd been holding me against that gorgeous chest of his, but I couldn't have told him to stop if I'd wanted to. Instead my legs just opened almost of their own accord.

Looking into his eyes while he gave me an orgasm was the most intimate and erotic thing I'd ever done.

After I'd finished he withdrew his hand and gave me the sweetest kiss. My heart was still beating fast and I was just overwhelmed. I couldn't think straight.

Then I felt his erection pressing into my leg. "Oh Eric" I said "Are you…do you want, um, do you want me to reciprocate?"

He shook his head. "No, it's OK. I just wanted to do something for you tonight. Plus I owed you anyway from last week." He laughed and I joined in.

He lay on his side next to me and sort of rolled me over so my back was to his chest. "Let's just lay here for a bit" he said.

There was silence for a while then he said "Your bed is a lot better than the spare one. Fuck that's lumpy"

I giggled "That came from Lorena's, she probably booby-trapped it. Still, at least you don't get Bob and Amelia trying to join you in bed at night."

"I can hear Amelia when she's around at night. She doesn't really understand quiet time, does she?"

"No, but she's hard to lose in a supermarket at least."

We chatted like this for a while, about the kids and what we'd been doing. If I thought what we did before was intimate, then this was even more intimate, lying in the dark whispering about normal, everyday stuff. I never wanted it to stop.

EPOV

I'd been asleep in Sookie's bed for a while, holding her against me, when I woke up and realised she was getting out of bed. Then I heard Amelia shout-whisper "Mummy, I need WEES!" from the hall and realised what the problem was.

Sookie left to help Amelia and I rolled onto my back. It felt so right to be in this bed with Sookie, but I didn't know what the policy was on Amelia finding me here. Would that weird her out? Would it cause problems for Sookie?

I realised that I wasn't going to get the answers to that without Sookie here, but to be on the safe side I got out, picked up my t-shirt and headed back to the bed in the spare room. It was cold and lonely and still very lumpy. Lumpier than when I left it actually, but I managed to shoo Bob off.

I just hoped to fuck that Sookie wasn't going to be pissed off in the morning. Because I'd had a fucking awesome night, all things given. It was a start anyway.

**The song is Four Seasons in One Day by Crowded House, in case anyone's interested.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N Thanks again for the responses! You guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I wasn't all that surprised when I got back to bed and found Eric had left. I guess the prospect of Amelia piling in would be a bit weird for him. The whole night was a bit weird for me and I didn't know what the hell it was going to be like in the morning. He'd obviously been pissed off earlier in the evening when he'd gone stomping off to the study but then he'd been so sweet when I was upset, and then…yeah, well. I felt a bit like I kept leading him on. Or maybe he was leading me on, because pretty soon he'd be gone, and there'd be no one here to cuddle me and talk to me at night. I was going to have to stop this.

I was in my usual spot in the kitchen when Eric appeared in the morning. He seemed a bit nervous; I definitely was, so we just looked at each other for a bit before I broke the silence and said "Morning!" way too brightly.

"Yeah" said Eric, walking towards me, "Good morning", I went to move past him to the pantry, but he grabbed me in an awkward hug. I sort of half hugged him back, not sure what to do. We broke apart and he started making coffee. It was scary how well he was fitting in here. It wouldn't hurt to just pretend I was keeping him, just for a little while, would it? I sighed. Yeah, it would. I cursed myself for being so sensible. Fat lot of good that had done me so far in life.

EPOV

I had felt pretty good when I'd gone back to that fuck-awful bed during the night, but felt totally fucking unsure of myself when I woke up in the morning. Shit, had I done the right thing? Would Sookie think I'd run away from her? Was I going to be allowed back in her bed, or was that only for when she was upset?

A part of me wished I had taken her up on the offer she'd made to reciprocate. My cock had really wanted to get re-acquainted with her mouth and hands. But I didn't want to scare her off. I was pretty sure that if I pushed her she'd just kick me out. That wasn't something I wanted to contemplate.

When I found her in the kitchen I wasn't sure what to do. Sookie seemed to be her usual happy self and acted like nothing had happened. I decided to try something and hugged her, but she wasn't enthusiastic and wriggled away. Right, friends then. Hopefully her definition of friends included me spending more time in her bed though. I could hope.

So I made coffee and we had breakfast. Amelia persuaded me to go and get the newspaper with her, and insisted on getting her scooter out so she could scoot up the driveway to the letterbox. She was funny though. She kept stepping off her scooter just before the letterbox so she could go back and start again, and therefore spend longer out here. Because apparently those were the rules; you had to get all the way there without coming off. She didn't seem to mind when I just gave up and sat on the front steps and waited until she got bored and we were allowed to finally go and get the paper.

When we got back inside Sookie was all excited. "She crawled!" she yelled "Felicia crawled! Well, she shuffled on her stomach, but she moved somewhere! Look!"

Sure enough, Sookie placed one of Amelia's toys a little way in front of where Felicia was lying on her stomach, and Felicia reached for it, let out a wail of annoyance, and then managed to pull herself along on her stomach towards the toy, which immediately went into her mouth. Sookie reached down and took it off her, earning another yell of annoyance as Felicia realised all her effort had been for nothing.

"Shit, that's…amazing" I said. And it was. I'd never been around babies before and the fact that it took one day to go from lying there to being mobile was just astonishing. It suddenly hit me how little time it took to go from nothing to being a small person like Amelia, walking and talking and bossing. Fuck, it was unbelievable. I was in awe of Sookie for producing these…people. I'd never given it much thought before but it was a huge…I don't know…honour, I guess, to be able to witness all the things your kids went through as they grew up.

I grinned at Sookie and she grinned back. "Want to see it again?" she asked.

"Yeah" I said "I do." And we spent the next 10 minutes making Felicia repeat her trick, until Amelia realised it was her toy being used and came to re-claim it and Felicia refused to do it for anything that was her own.

"Well, I guess we can tick that off the list. Ugh, I'll have to start making sure the house is baby-proof again. I wonder where I put all those covers for the wall sockets?" With that she was off to obviously hunt the stuff down. I was left with Felicia who was now chewing one of her soft toys and ignoring me. I figured she was OK and sat down to look through the paper Amelia and I had retrieved. I briefly contemplated how much more at ease I felt here, with only Felicia for company, compared to the first morning I'd stayed here.

After a while Sookie came back and announced we were off to the park. During the preparations for leaving I walked in on Sookie changing Felicia's diaper when we needed a ruling on what shoes Amelia should be wearing. Yeah, that took the shine off kids. Sookie laughed and suggested that I should be practicing changing a baby because these were my practice kids, but I just told her that I was pretty sure I could pay someone to do it if I ever needed to and left them to it.

When we got to the park Amelia immediately climbed up the playground and announced she was the princess and I had to be a dragon and try to get her. Thankfully there was no one else around because I'm sure I sucked at being a dragon, but Amelia didn't seem to mind. Then it was Sookie's turn to try to get up the 'tower' to Amelia and Sookie passed Felicia to me so I could sit with her for a bit. Sookie was much better at this game than I was and had Amelia squealing with pretend terror. Then it was time for the slide apparently, which I discovered, after being told I had to have a turn, isn't that much fun when the whole thing is about as long as your legs.

After I pushed Amelia on a swing for while, with Sookie doing the same for Felicia, it was time to head back. We stopped and bought lunch at a bakery on the way. As we were walking Sookie remembered something "Oh, shoot. I didn't get a chance to say last night before you went to bed..." I snuck a quick glance at her, but she didn't seem to look angry, so I guess we were just glossing over the fact I'd stormed off. I tuned back into the conversation "…Judith and Calvin are going to drop Jessica over this afternoon so I can watch her."

"Who?" I asked

"Oh, yeah. Judith is my sister-in-law. Calvin's her fiancé, he's South-African. Jessica is their daughter and I'm babysitting today."

"Oh, ok then."

Sure enough after lunch an SUV pulled up and Santa-guy from Monday got out. Ah, OK, he was somehow part of the family. He was accompanied by a shortish, dark-haired woman and a small kid who was squirming a lot.

"Hi" Sookie called out, in what I realised was the far too friendly manner she used when she was nervous. Right, the tears from last night came after that phone call which might have been this woman.

"Hi" said Judith coming up the stairs. They looked at where I was standing behind Sookie.

"This is Eric, who is staying with us at the moment. Eric, this is Judith, and Calvin, and Jessica."

Judith said hello and shook my hand, but looked unimpressed. Calvin was either oblivious or better at acting as he shook my hand rather enthusiastically and said "Great you to meet you, man. So are you liking New Zealand so far?"

"Yeah, it's, um, terrific" I said, looking at Sookie.

We moved inside and there was some more conversation. Judith and Sookie discussed the kids; Calvin asked me if I'd be watching the game that night, which confused me. "Game?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah, the rugby's on. We're playing South Africa. We can watch it if you want, as part of your total immersion in all things Kiwi" Sookie said.

Right, rugby. I'd seen Invictus but I wasn't sure about watching it for real. "Sure" I replied.

After a while they left and Jessica sprinted off. Pretty soon there were shouts and it appeared that Amelia and Jessica were engaged in some sort of territorial war in Amelia's bedroom. Sookie waded in "Right, you two, let's go outside!"

She herded them out and I went out to sit on the deck as well. She got the two of them chasing her around the garden and it was quite entertaining for a while. After a while though I heard Sookie say "OK, new game. Chase Eric! Eric, RUN!"

SPOV

It was a fun morning with Eric here, it's surprising how much easier it is to manage going to the park when you're not outnumbered by your children. Having a second pair of hands is invaluable. And he was pretty good at putting up with Amelia's stage directions.

I remembered to warn him about Jessica coming over. I was fairly sure he'd heard some of the conversation from the previous night and that had upset him, but he wasn't sulking now, so I wasn't going there. Just move on. It was a bit awkward when they arrived and Judith just stared at him a lot. Thank goodness for Calvin who carried on regardless.

Trying to manage Jessica and Amelia though was a nightmare. I really appreciated what Judith had done the previous weekend in having my two for so long. Amelia wouldn't share and Jessica wouldn't give in. In desperation I took them outside to run around for a bit, which pretty soon just ended up with them chasing me. Somehow, it didn't seem fair that Eric just got to sit and watch, so I set them on him which was hilarious to watch. His legs are so long he basically couldn't run at all or they would have had no chance of catching him, so he was striding, in an exaggerated manner around the backyard while these two small dynamos threw themselves at him.

He made the classic mistake of letting them take him down and then it was all over as they bounced all over him without mercy. I saw him wince a few times and I'm pretty sure he got at least one small foot or knee in the balls. Yep, classic mistake. The girls however loved it so I left them to it and went to get Felicia up.

When I got back I found we'd gathered an extra child and Riley from next door had now joined the fray. Apparently he'd been staring longingly over the fence and Halleigh had asked Eric if it was OK if he came over. I think she was hoping for a lie down. Poor Eric though was put on the spot and said yes. I wondered if I should go and rescue him but he seemed to be coping, so I just chucked one of Amelia's balls in his direction and said "there you go, get them to kick this around."

After a while I took afternoon tea out to all of them. There was now stuff all over the backyard from where Amelia had apparently insisted on creating an obstacle course, and Eric had been doing his best to humour her. The four of them were all looking a bit hot and tired at this stage so happily sat down for a cold drink and some snacks.

Eric was coping a lot better than I thought he would, but I guess he's pretty young so he can do all the stuff that uncles are meant to do. Well, I wasn't sure about Jason, I didn't think he'd cope so well with three kids chasing him round, but I remembered how Bill used to let Sarah and Portia's kids jump all over him, and I guess it was the same.

Not long after that Riley got called home and Judith and Calvin turned up for Jessica. There seemed to be a bit of tension there and I think maybe the shopping trip hadn't gone as well as they'd hoped. Judith said something about there being a disagreement over the taps. Yeah, renovations don't bring out the best in anyone.

Eric collapsed into a chair and kind of stared into space for a while. "You OK?" I asked.

"Yeah…that was just a bit, crazy. Is it always like that?"

"Well, only when I have random strange kids as well as my own. You should have been here for Amelia's birthday party. We had about 12 kids here. That was a busy day."

He didn't say anything, but he was obviously contemplating what that would have been like. I gave him a beer and patted him on the shoulder "Thanks for entertaining them." I said

"Yeah, no problem."

I'd got steak out of the freezer and told Eric he could be in charge of the barbecue. I watched him while he was cooking and he was a study in concentration, it was very sweet the way he was taking it so seriously. He did OK. I'd had worse. Bill used to get a bit frustrated and blame me for not telling him how long everything was going to take to cook, so obviously it was my fault if he burnt it. I got used to a lot of stuff around here being my fault.

After dinner Amelia begged to be allowed to watch a movie curled up in my bed, which we often did as a treat on a Saturday night. I said fine, and she went racing off to pick. I was hoping for something like Finding Nemo or Monsters Inc, but she picked Tinkerbell, again. I had seen it so many times now. Oh well.

I wanted to tell Eric he was excused, but Amelia told him to come on, it was starting, so I guess he didn't have a choice. So we all perched on the bed, Amelia between Eric and I, and Felicia on my lap as I was giving her a bottle. We watched Tinkerbell save the day, all the while accompanied by Amelia giving her own commentary and asking why things were happening. Having watched it countless times before didn't seem to stop her asking for clarification. Eric tried his best, but he was a bit clueless about the whole thing really, so just made stuff up. I just tried not to giggle at his explanations of why you couldn't see fairies even if they were there, and how pixie-dust made them fly.

After the movie I turned the TV over to the rugby game, which was just starting, and went to put Amelia to bed, Felicia having gone a bit earlier. Amelia lent over and kissed Eric on the cheek. "Night, Eric" she said before she trotted off. Yeah, she was smitten.

On the way back to the bedroom I dug out the bottle of wine that Eric had arrived with on Monday and took that back with a couple of glasses. I figured he deserved a drink after the day he'd had. And maybe I'd sound more convincing at explaining the rules of rugby to him if he'd had some wine.

EPOV

Those kids exhausted me. How could legs that small keep going for that long? I thought that if I pretended they'd tackled me they'd actually give up, but that just led to them jumping on me and a knee or something hitting me in the nuts. Fuck that hurt. They were merciless.

Then the kid from next door wanted to join in and I didn't know what to say to his mom; Sookie had disappeared off somewhere. So I said it was fine and lifted him over the fence. Wasn't my best move as now I was completely outnumbered. I tried organising them into a proper game with the ball that Sookie threw at me, but it was just chaos and they were all off in their own little world. Amelia was the only one I could even understand for a start. The other two just seemed to yell a lot and jump on me.

But I survived, and the kids did too. I didn't want to break Amelia, but I really didn't want to break any of the extra kids who's parents didn't know me at all. I was kind of glad when they went home though.

Then Sookie got me to grill steaks for her. It was the only time I'd cooked since I'd been here and I was really hoping to impress her. She seemed happy with my effort and the meal was nice. I was getting used to home cooking – maybe I wasn't so far off turning into fat Bob after all.

After dinner I got roped into watching some movie about fairies by Amelia, who was determined to include me in most of the shit she did these days. The best bit was I got to sit on Sookie's bed again, although Amelia was stuck between us preventing me from touching Sookie at all. Amelia also somehow thought I was an expert on fairies. I struggled for a bit until I realised you could just make shit up and she'd believe it. Hell, she believed in fairies for a start so it wasn't much of a leap to anything I was telling her. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Sookie trying not to giggle as I got more and more outlandish with my stories. Amelia was taking it all in though.

Before she went to bed she kissed me goodnight, which was a first. It actually felt kind of, gratifying. I guess she appreciated the fact I'd hung out with her all day. Poor kid didn't have a dad so I guess I was a complete novelty for her.

When Sookie took Amelia off to bed I made sure I didn't move. If Sookie wanted to go back to the living room then fine, but I wasn't leaving the bed before I absolutely had to.

She came back with the wine I'd bought and some glasses though, so that definitely looked promising. However she seemed to expect that we'd watch the rugby game. So I had to try to pay attention to what she was telling me, when really it would have been a lot more fucking fun to have been kissing her. Maybe when the stupid rugby finishes.

Sometime in the second half and after we were most of the way through the wine, we'd slumped down further against the pillows and I noticed that Sookie wasn't talking anymore. She'd dozed off and her head slumped against my shoulder. Well that was nice, I would have liked it if maybe we got to make out at least for a bit before she fell asleep on me, but it was nice.

So I put an arm around her rubbed the exposed patch of skin on her back between her pants and where her tank top had ridden up. Her skin was soft and warm and I really wanted to touch more of it.

But I turned back to the TV and tried to work out what the hell was going on with this rugby game. My mind drifted off though, and I thought about the day we'd had and how much I'd actually enjoyed it, even though I guessed it wasn't anything special for Sookie, just hanging out at home.

I looked down at where she was lying on my shoulder and everything hit me like a ton of fucking bricks. I wanted this, I wanted it all. I wanted the trips to the park and kids chasing me around a backyard. I wanted to ruin food on the barbecue. I wanted stupid movies all crushed together on a bed and little girls who thought every ridiculous thing I told them was the most amazing thing ever. And I wanted it all with Sookie. So fucking badly. I just didn't know how to tell her that.

At that point she kind of stirred, and murmured "Sorry, I dozed off. But you're a good pillow." She stretched, pressing her body further into mine, and smiled up at me, reaching for the remote to turn the TV off.

Fuck it, I thought. I'll just show her.

SPOV

I tried with the rugby, but somehow I always doze off during sports. Eric was nice to lean on though.

When I came around again he was rubbing the bare skin on my lower back. His hand was really warm. I didn't even know that was an erogenous zone. I felt very hot all of a sudden.

I stretched and apologised while I tried to figure out how this was going to end. And then Eric kissed me and I realised it wasn't going to end anytime soon. He was an amazing kisser. I just put my hands in his hair and went with it.

After a while though, my brain switched back in. By this stage his hands were starting to explore and he was stroking my breasts over my clothes. I realised that we were going to do this and I started to worry. Was he only doing this because he thought I expected it? Because I was the nearest warm body and he was horny? Why on earth would he want me?

I pulled away from the kiss. I was going to tell him to stop; I was going to say this wasn't a good idea. But I opened my eyes and looked at him. His gaze was intense, and he seemed to be waiting for me to speak. All I could say was "Eric, please".

EPOV

As soon as I heard Sookie say please I knew that there was no going back tonight. I was desperate to see, to feel, to taste every inch of her body. I lifted off her tank top and unhooked her bra. Finally, I was getting to see those breasts. They were as fantastic as I'd imagined, so warm and soft and full with hard, pink nipples. I took one nipple in my mouth, and rolled the other between my thumb and fingers. Sookie moaned. I switched sides and she moaned again, all the while running her hands through my hair.

I pulled off her pants and underwear in one go. Finally she was naked, and she wanted me. I felt so fucking lucky. I just wanted to worship her. I wanted to do all the things I'd dreamed of doing in my hotel room, and more. I kissed her on the thigh and her breathing got louder. And then I bent my head and kissed her clit and she jerked slightly.

I put my hand on her stomach to keep her still and ran my tongue through her slit. She moaned some more and I looked up to see her stuff her hand into her mouth to keep from being too loud. I bent back to my task and continued sucking and licking while Sookie moaned and her hips tried to lift off the bed. After a while I inserted a finger into her opening and that sent her over the edge. She was breathless as I crawled back up her body to kiss her.

SPOV

Eric was amazing. Best not to think about why he was, but he was. I'd had one orgasm, but I wanted more. And I wanted to touch him. So I helped him pull off his t-shirt and then I unbuttoned his shorts and pulled them down as far as I could. He stood up and took them off completely, then did the same with his underwear.

Then he lay next to me and started kissing me again. His hands were roaming all over me, touching my breasts and straying down between my legs to come back up again. I reached over and stroked his penis and he moaned.

But I started to worry, I'd had two kids. I hadn't had sex since the second one. I didn't know what it would be like for him, _in there_. He'd probably never had sex with a woman who'd had kids before. I wanted to say something but I wasn't sure what to say.

"Eric…Eric?"

"Mmmm" he didn't seem particularly enthused about chatting just now.

"Ummm, I've had two kids…"

He looked up at me. "Sookie, you're gorgeous. Your body is fucking fantastic. I want you so much. Just relax." With that he went back to sucking on my breasts and I gave up. But then I thought of something else.

"Condoms?" I asked.

Eric sat up and looked a bit worried. Shit. Then I remembered something. "Hang on, I think I have some I won some at a hen's party" I lent over and rummaged in the drawer of the bedside table, feeling quite self-conscious at being on display. "Here we go."

I handed the box to Eric and he looked at it dubiously, before tearing off the cellophane and extracting a condom from the box. I watched as he opened the packet and took it out. He frowned. "It's um, black…" he said.

"Yeah, well, it was a joke prize."

He shrugged and rolled it on. OK, well it wasn't that funny.

He positioned himself between my legs. "Are you still OK with this?" he asked.

"Yeah, no doubts at all".

He pushed in. That felt so wonderful. I hadn't realised how much I wanted this until it happened. I felt so light and happy, I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot.

Eric hadn't moved, so I started bucking up to try to encourage him. "Fuck Sookie" he groaned "you're milking me. Just, give me a minute. You're so fucking tight."

Oh, well yay for me! I'm pretty sure that wasn't what nice girls wanted to be told, but it made me feel all kinds of good.

Then Eric pulled out and thrust back in again. Wow. He started to build a steady rhythm. This was just getting better and better.

I looked up him and smiled and he grinned back. I was having the best time.

He bent one of my legs and changed angles going deeper. Oh that was good too. And with every thrust his body rubbed against my nub in just the right way. I was having an even better time.

And then I started to feel my orgasm building again. I pressed myself against Eric and felt the wave crash over me again. Now I just felt warm and relaxed and was quite happy to just enjoy being so close to Eric.

His movements sped up and I felt him go tense. I could see the strain in his neck as he groaned "Fuck". And then he collapsed on top of me. I stroked his back. I felt warm and safe and wanted.

Eric propped himself up again "OK?" he asked. I nodded "More than OK" I said.

He went off to the bathroom to dispose of the god-awful black condom and I started looking for my underwear. Eric came back in and locked the door. He saw me trying to pull my knickers back on. "No" he said "no clothes. I want to feel you next to me."

I decided just to go with it and got under the covers. Eric turned off the light and joined me, spooning me like the night before. I listened to his breathing even out as he fell asleep. I thought about all the things I probably should be worrying about, but somehow they didn't seem important anymore.

**Thanks for reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N For all of you who've been enjoying Eric and the kids, there's more in this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I woke up as the sun was coming up and found that I was half-pinned under Eric, who had somehow managed to roll onto his stomach but still keep one leg and arm across me. It was kind of nice, but really hot, so I wriggled out from underneath him and looked at the clock. It was 5.36am. I should really get up and head Amelia off before she tried to break into the bedroom; she wasn't used to the door being locked.

I looked back at Eric who hadn't stirred and poked him in the arm. He was dead to the world still, so I left him sleeping and headed off to the ensuite to have a shower.

While in there I tried to figure out what would happen next. Should I tell Eric this was just a one time thing? Ask him to leave altogether? Continue on with an affair until he leaves? And then what do I do about Amelia?

It just all too hard for that time on a Sunday morning.

I was drying my hair when a naked Eric appeared in the bathroom with me. I suddenly felt embarrassed and couldn't really look at him. He didn't seem embarrassed at all and just acted like this happened every morning. He hugged me, kissed my neck and murmured "Morning". I mumbled something back. Then he got into the shower.

I just went back to drying my hair. Although I will admit that my gaze drifted over to where Eric in the shower was being reflected in the mirror in front of me. Yeah, that was a good view.

I was just finishing my hair when I heard Amelia start stomping around and I had to go out and see what she was doing.

After a while Eric appeared in the kitchen and I got another hug and a kiss. Well I was definitely leaning towards not kicking him out. It's a good thing we only had a baby and a pre-schooler around, because they weren't about to notice the goofy way we were smiling at each other.

And I think I figured that if Eric could hug me, I guess I was allowed to hug him too. So while he was making coffee I pressed myself into his back and put my arms around his waist. I could have stayed like that all day. Doctors had discussed anti-depressants with me when Bill died, but I didn't want to wean Felicia. I'm sure though that no pill would ever make me feel as good as I did hugging Eric.

However, Amelia needed him to tell her some more about fairies and he wandered off to talk to her.

It kept raining on and off and it looked like we were going to be stuck inside for the morning. At one stage I found Eric and Amelia both staring out the glass door longingly, which was kind of cute. Eric followed me around for a while as I vacuumed, but then gave up and tried to find something on TV.

Felicia refused to crawl again despite all of us trying to encourage her. She'd just sit there and giggle.

I was hoping that it would fine up so we could go out somewhere in the afternoon, I was still conscious that I was responsible to for showing Eric around Auckland. That was what he was here for.

But a phone call after lunch put paid to that. Lorena needed to be taken to the doctor, and could I possibly do it? Urgh. Judith and Calvin were out for the day, Portia was at church, and Sarah was too flaky/too far away/had too many kids. So she rang me. I told her I'd see if I could find someone to watch the kids and ring her back.

I went to find Eric in the living room. "I have to go and take Lorena to the doctor's, so I'm just going next door to see if Halleigh can watch the kids."

Eric looked up from the book he was reading, I guess he'd found one of Bill's in the study. "Lorena?" he asked.

"Mother in law. You met her on Monday. Judith's hiding, Sarah's useless, Portia's bothering God so I'm it."

"Who?"

"Judith, and her sisters. Lorena's actual children. Who are somehow managing to avoid this."

"But she doesn't like you."

"No, not that much."

"So, why help her?"

"Because…it's what people do. She looked after the kids a couple of times when I worked so I kind of owe her."

"But you don't have to do it."

"But I feel like it's the right thing to do."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't do it."

"Well I'm obviously nicer than you are!" I said rather loudly. Eric was just being annoying now, that was all I needed. "Anyway, I said I'd only do it if Halleigh would watch the kids, so she may be out of course."

"Well, if you really want to go, I could look after them."

"I don't want to go. But are you sure?" I guess it would be OK. I'd only be gone for an hour or so at the most.

"Yeah, fine. Amelia can tell me what to do."

Yeah, she would. "But are you really sure?" I asked. I didn't want him to feel obliged, but at the same time, it saved me asking Halleigh for a favour.

"Yep, positive."

"Right, I'll call Lorena back then and say I'll be there shortly."

EPOV

I had been looking forward to waking next to Sookie; I guess I'd hoped that there might be more sex on offer. Sadly she wasn't in bed anymore when I woke up. And I even missed her in the shower.

Sookie looked a bit nervous when I entered the bathroom. I hoped to god she wasn't having second thoughts. I figured the best policy was to pretend that we were a couple and maybe she'd just get swept up in it. It seemed to work. She was more receptive to being hugged than the previous morning and I even got hugged back when we were in the kitchen.

Unfortunately the weather was shitty and we were all stuck at home for the morning. Amelia was desperate to go outside; I think she had visions of chasing me around again, but we were out of luck.

In the afternoon Sookie got a phone-call from that bitch of a mother-in-law of hers who wanted a ride to the doctor. Why Sookie felt compelled to help her was beyond me, surely if the husband was dead she could stop caring about his mom? But she wanted to do it and got a bit fucked off when I tried to tell her otherwise, so I offered to watch the kids to get myself out of the shit on that one.

How hard could it be?

Sookie raced around giving me instructions on bottles for Felicia and where her diapers where. Yeah, hopefully there was nothing that couldn't wait for Sookie.

"Amelia will need a snack, but just try to keep her away from the bikkies" she said

"Bikkies?"

"Biscuits. Uh, cookies. She'll try to insist she needs several."

After a seemingly endless stream of information, Sookie finally made it out the door. I followed her out to her car.

"Shit" she said "I wonder if I should leave you the car seats, just in case?"

"In case what?"

"In case of emergency, you know. If you have to take the kids somewhere. Like, if one of them gets injured or something."

"Sookie, I really don't think that will happen. We'll be fine."

"OK, well ring my cellphone if you need to" and with that she was off.

I went back into the house to see what the kids were doing. Felicia was sitting on the floor, surrounded by soft toys and rattles, and Amelia was dragging in a large storage box on wheels.

"Uh, what are we playing?" I asked.

"Barbies" said Amelia, and she tipped the box up. I was greeted by the slightly pornographic sight of a pile of half-naked Barbie dolls and their boyfriends. OK, this was going to be interesting.

"They're going shoe shopping" said Amelia. Sure enough there were tiny shoes everywhere, and Amelia piled them up and then started to organise the dolls. There was also some kind of car that they could drive to go and buy their shoes. I picked it up to look at it. I was pretty sure pink was the wrong colour for a Corvette.

I pointed to one of the dolls. "What's her name?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Barbie" said Amelia as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And...uh…what about that one?" I asked, pointing to another doll.

"Barbie". I swear Amelia rolled her eyes at me.

I gave up and briefly contemplated how much easier my life could have been in the last few years if all the blonde women with big boobs in the real world had the same name.

Amelia didn't seem to require my input any longer so I went and got my laptop and set it up on the table and started to surf the net. After about 10 minutes there was a cry from Amelia "She ate a shoe!"

I looked over and sure enough, Felicia had decided that she could actually crawl and had waded into the game and was attempting to suck the foot of one of the dolls. Amelia was holding up a small pink shoe and waving it above her head. "Nooo" wailed Amelia, "Stop her!"

"She ate one of the shoes?" I asked.

"Yes! Make her stop. She's eating everything!"

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

"Fuck" I yelled, "Fuck, fuck, fuck." I grabbed Felicia and took the doll out of her hands. I heard Amelia say "Fuck?" in the background but I had bigger problems. Shit, what did I do now?

I looked at Felicia. She looked OK. She just smiled at me. But what did lumps of plastic do to babies? I prised her mouth open. Nothing. If she'd had it in her mouth it was swallowed now.

"Uh, Amelia. What does your mom do when you're sick?"

"Takes us to the doctor." Fuck, well I couldn't do that, I had no car seats. I'd have to call Sookie and she'd realise I'm a total fuck-up.

I tried again. "Does she ever phone anyone?"

Amelia thought for a bit. "Sometimes she does. Like when I had a stomach bug. She rang a nurse."

OK, I thought. I looked on Sookie's fridge where there was a bunch of phone numbers. One of them was for a Healthline. That might work.

I sat Felicia in her highchair where I could see her and rang the number. When they answered I blurted out "The baby ate a shoe!"

The woman on the other end said "Sir, is the baby breathing?"

"Yes"

"Is the baby choking?"

"No"

"Is the baby blue or floppy at all?"

"No, she just ate a shoe."

"OK, well if any of those things happen you need to hang up and ring for an ambulance. But I'll take some details from you. What's the baby's name?"

"Felicia, uh, Compton." That seemed right; Amelia liked to tell me her full name.

"Her date of birth?"

"I don't know. But I think she's about 6 months old?"

"We might have the details here. Have you rung this number before?"

"No. But her mom might have!"

She asked for the address and phone number here and I could give that and sure enough Felicia was listed in their system.

"So, she ate part of a shoe?" the woman asked.

"No, the whole shoe."

"A whole…shoe?"

"A small one. About, an eighth of an inch."

"So, small then?"

"Yeah" I said that, didn't I? Fuck this was hard work. "A doll's shoe."

"Oh, right. What was the shoe made of?"

"Plastic."

"Did it have any sharp edges?"

"I don't think so."

"And it's definitely not stuck in her throat or anything?"

"No, I did check that."

"Well, sir I think that if she has indeed swallowed the shoe, it should pass through her no problem. Just check her nappies over the next couple of days and if anything changes, or she seems distressed, just take her to your own doctor."

"OK"

"Don't worry sir. We get lots of dads ringing up at the weekend about things like this, but can I suggest something?"

"Sure"

"Have you tried pairing the shoes up? To make sure one is actually missing?"

"Uh, no. That would be a good idea. OK I'll do that then, thanks."

"No problem sir, ring back if you have any other questions."

Shit, why didn't I think of that?

Felicia was starting to fuss in the high chair, so I put her back on the floor, but well away from the dolls. I told Amelia that we were re-organising the shoes and started to put them in pairs on the table, which was really fucking hard because they're so tiny and I had a hard time picking them up.

Sure enough, all I was left with at the end was one tiny pink shoe on its own. "Fuck" I muttered, as quietly as I could. By this stage Amelia had been bored by the game and had gone off to her room. I looked over at where she'd been sitting, and there on the floor was the missing pink shoe. She'd been sitting on it all the time.

I lay back on the floor and rubbed my hands over my face. Fuck, that had been close. Felicia decided to slither over and cheer me up by putting a wet hand on my cheek, the hand she'd just been sucking. "Yeah, thanks" was all I could say.

About half an hour later Sookie appeared. "That was…hard work" she said as she walked in. "Was everything OK here?"

I glanced at Amelia, who was busy cutting up magazines. We'd discussed not telling her mom. Well I'd discussed it and hoped she was listening.

"No problems at all." I said.

"Eric thought Felicia ate a shoe. But she didn't" said Amelia, barely glancing up. Traitor. And of course she made it sound as though it was all in my imagination.

"A shoe?" Sookie asked.

"Barbie shoe." I said, and then I was stuck telling the whole story. Part-way through my re-cap Sookie started to giggle, and by the time I got to the part where I realised Amelia had been sitting on the shoe all along, Sookie had tears running down her face.

"Oh Eric!" she said "Poor you! That's just hilarious."

It could have been a worse reaction I guess. Just then something with Amelia's art work went wrong because she very loudly said "Fuck!" God that kid was out to get me!

Sookie's eyes went really wide. "Uh, I may have said that earlier…." I confessed.

"It's OK. I think we'll be alright if no one reacts to it and if no one says it again! Understood?"

I nodded. Watch my language, right.

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident and I was starting to get excited about it being near bedtime. Well I hoped to fuck that I had reason to get excited. I wondered if the incident with the kids would mean that Sookie would banish me back to the spare bed tonight? Shit.

We watched TV after the kids were in bed, the only difference from any other night being the fact that Sookie cuddled into my side. I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do and she wasn't giving any clues.

When she stood up to go to bed, I followed and went into the main bathroom to brush my teeth. I came out into the hallway and just stood there, at a loss as to where I was supposed to go. If I went into Sookie's room would that be wrong? Did I need to wait until she invited me?

I stood there feeling like a total dick and getting more unsure about the whole situation by the minute. I was thinking that maybe I should cut my losses and head off to sleep in the spare room when I heard Sookie's voice come from her bedroom. "Eric? Are you coming to bed?"

Fuck yes.

**Thanks for reading!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N Thanks to everyone for the wonderful response I had to the last chapter! I'm glad everyone enjoyed Eric's afternoon in charge of the kids.**

SPOV

I spent the evening wavering on the 'where Eric was sleeping' question. I wanted him with me, but if it happened, then well, I guess that was it until I kicked him out, or he left. Ugh. It was really difficult. I managed to put off making a decision for a while by sitting and watching TV with him, although I did cuddle into his side and that may have pushed me in the direction of wanting more cuddles later on. And sex. I was definitely interested in more sex.

Obviously I confused Eric as well as myself because I could hear him lurking in the hallway, unsure which room he was supposed to be in. The fact he didn't assume made me feel a huge rush of affection for him, and I called out and asked him if he was coming to bed.

Before I could fashion another thought, he came into the room, stripped naked and was in bed kissing me. Boy, he was keen.

Pretty soon I'd lost my pyjamas too and Eric was enjoying my breasts, and I was enjoying them being enjoyed, so to speak. He lifted his mouth from my nipple long enough to murmur "Fuck, I love your breasts. I've wanted to do this for so long."

I giggled. "Yeah, I used to catch you staring at my chest all the time when we had coffee at work."

Eric paused again, and looked up at me with smirk "Well, I would say I'm sorry, but I'm here now, so I guess I'm not." He switched his mouth to the other nipple.

I swatted him on the shoulder. "Whatever happened to that famous American politeness?" I asked, but he just chuckled, too busy to talk anymore. Yeah, I was beginning to think talking was over-rated too.

A little while later, after I'd had at least one orgasm and there'd been some mutual sniggering over one of the stupid black condoms, Eric entered me. Yep, that still felt fantastic. I just enjoyed being there, surrounded by him. But then I got the giggles again. His chest hair was tickly.

Eric looked down at me. "What?" he asked. I think I was giving him a complex.

"Your chest hair tickles." I said. He just kept looking at me and didn't say anything, which worried me slightly, but somehow I couldn't stop myself. All this pleasure had gone straight to my head and done something, and now I was just blurting everything out.

I thought if I kissed him it might make it better. But somehow what happened was I ended up saying "I want to kiss you, but you're so bloody tall it's awkward from down here" and there may have been more giggling.

Eric smiled, but then he pulled out and moved off me. "Eric!" I said, feeling a bit grumpy now. I hadn't meant to upset him. But he just sat back on his heels and patted his thighs. "Climb on then" he said.

Oh. Ohhhh. I didn't know if I was ready for that level of exposure. As it was I'd grabbed the sheet and managed to half-cover myself as he moved away.

I bit my lip and looked at him. "Ummm" was all I could come up with to say. Eric held out his hand "Come here. Then you can kiss me."

He must have sensed my reluctance as he carried on "Sookie, just come here. You can see how much I want you" he gestured down to his lap. "Come here and I can show you."

I sucked my stomach in and took Eric's hand, shuffled over and straddled his legs. I reached down to put him in the right spot, and then lowered myself down. That felt infinitely better. I looked into Eric's eyes, "and now you get to kiss me" he said. So I did. That felt pretty good too.

Then he whispered in my ear "Now you get to ride me." That sent shivers down my spine and banished the giggles completely.

EPOV

I was determined to show Sookie just how much pleasure I could give her, in the hope it would remove any lingering doubts she might have. Because fuck it, at this point she'd have to use a fucking bulldozer to get me out of that bedroom again.

But her mood seemed a bit all over the place. She kept acting nervous, like she expected I would hurt her. I didn't want to hurt her; I just wanted to worship her. I couldn't understand why she wasn't getting that message. And she was so shy about her body, which was just fucking wrong. She was awesome. I just wanted to have sex with her every night for the rest of my life, and maybe occasionally during the day too.

I just hoped she'd get over it soon, or at least realise the best cure was to have a lot of sex. With me. I was pretty sure that would work.

With that idea in mind I let her sleep for a couple of hours then woke her again. "Sookie?" I whispered "Sookie?"

"Mmmm?"

She was curled up against me and my cock was definitely making it's feelings about the more sex plan known.

"Sookie, wake up. I want you." I pressed my cock against her butt to make the point.

"Sleeping"

"Come on. It'll be great. You know you'll enjoy it." I moved her hair and nuzzled her neck. That seemed to wake her up a bit.

"Eric, it's the middle of the night" she said rolling over to face me.

"Exactly." I went back to kissing her neck and shoulder.

"I don't think that's much of an argument."

"How about this?" I took one of her breasts in my mouth.

"Unnn. Much more persuasive. Fine then, if you can wake me up properly you can have me."

Fuck. I never could resist a challenge.

SPOV

The next morning I woke up half pinned by Eric again. God, he sprawled out in his sleep. I looked at him. He did look sweet though. And he'd obviously worn himself out last night with all his efforts.

I was feeling pretty good really, as I got into the shower. I guess all that sex will do that for you. It's the hormones, probably. Isn't that what they say? There's no love, it's all just hormones.

So I'm sure when Eric goes and my hormones settle down I'll be fine. Almost definitely.

Eric emerged from the bedroom as I was giving Amelia breakfast. If she noticed he was coming out of my room she didn't say anything. I doubt she noticed; she was lovely but 3 year olds are pretty self-centred.

After breakfast I did my usual morning chores while Amelia read a book to Eric. It had taken him a while to figure out she couldn't actually read, she was just good at bluffing. And could remember large chunks of the stories. But after a while she'd drift off and the story would be embellished by other things she'd read or heard, or what was in the pictures. Her version of Green Eggs and Ham involved quite a lot of back-story for the fox in the box. So poor Eric would be confused and try to correct her and she'd just get frustrated. They seemed to have sorted it out now though.

I discovered some old bread at the back of the pantry and suggested a trip to the park at Western Springs to feed the ducks. Amelia thought that sounded terrific and raced off to get ready. Eric and I were alone for the first time that morning, well, apart from Felicia.

He did that thing where he suddenly appeared in front of me in about three strides and just grabbed me and kissed me. Yeah, he was overpowering. There were hormones everywhere.

Just then we heard Amelia say "Can I wear these shoes?" Eric jumped back, but she seemed oblivious to the whole thing, far more interested in what she was wearing and doing for the day.

So after a quick stop at the supermarket to pick up some stuff for a picnic, we drove to Western Springs and piled out of the car.

EPOV

I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do or not do in front of Amelia; Sookie hadn't said anything. So I stayed back from her when I first found her in the kitchen (one of these days I'd really like to fucking catch her in the shower), but as soon as Amelia disappeared I took my chance.

Amelia caught us but didn't seem at all worried. So that was good, right? I'd have to ask Sookie later on, but I was pretty sure it meant everything was good.

So today apparently we were going to feed some ducks. This sounded a bit pointless, but made Amelia very excited. So we drove to some park by the zoo, with a huge lake and started walking around. There weren't just ducks. There were geese and some huge fucking black swans that were taking no prisoners as soon as Amelia started throwing bread around. Some of them were as tall as she was and I was starting to get a bit nervous, although she was pretty oblivious. In the end I lifted her out of the crowd of birds and took her back to Sookie. No way was I letting her kid get eaten by a feral swan.

After that we went for a walk around the lake. Amelia sat on my shoulders for a while, but got bored of that and wanted to run, so I ended up pushing Felicia's stroller. A group of what I guessed was Japanese tourists approached, the young women giggling and smiling. I figured I might be in for another photo shoot with them, but apparently it was Felicia they wanted their photo taken with. Huh. Sookie rolled her eyes at me "It's her big blue eyes" she whispered "it happens to us all the time."

We managed to get Amelia to sit still for long enough to eat some lunch, and then we headed off to the playground to really 'tire her out' apparently. Where did all that energy come from?

I was sitting on a bench next to Felicia's stroller (she'd long since dozed off) and Sookie was off instructing Amelia in proper playground etiquette, when a blonde chick approached me.

"Hi" she said, somewhat brightly.

"Uh, hi" I replied. Did I know her? Probably not, thank god this isn't Shreveport.

"Oh, you're American!" she continued. I decided that didn't need a response. "I'm, um, Chloe."

"Eric"

"Hi Eric. Nice to meet you. So, um, do you like New Zealand?"

"Yeah, so far."

"Cool. So, um, I'm just here with my sister and her kid, and it's not all that much fun, you know? So I thought I'd just say hi, 'cos you looked, um, well you were sitting here alone…"

I guess she hadn't figured out I was with Felicia.

"And anyway" she continued "maybe we could get coffee sometime? Or I could show you around Auckland?"

Ugh. Why did everyone want to show me Auckland so fucking badly? I didn't say anything for a minute, hoping she'd get the message.

"So, Eric, what do you think?"

"Oh" I said, as casually as I could, "I'm here with my wife. So, thanks anyway, but no." I nodded towards Sookie, who along with Amelia was heading back this way, and hoped that Chloe or whatever her name was, would take the hint.

She looked down at my hand, obviously looking for a ring. "Oh, your wife?" Fucking hell, what did I have to do to get rid of her?

Just then Sookie arrived next to us. "Hi" she said looking from me to Chloe.

"Hi!" said Chloe "I was just talking to your husband. So did you guys meet in the States?" Oh, fuck. I should have just told her to fuck off when I had the chance.

Sookie narrowed her eyes and looked at me. "No, here. At work. Right, come on guys, we need to get home." With that, she grabbed Felicia's stroller and started walking off, Amelia trotting along behind her. I stood up and said "NicetomeetyouChloe" and walked off without waiting for a response from her.

When I caught up to Sookie she just glared at me. "Sorry" I said.

"Yeah, you should be. You need to stop making shit up! Thank god we'll never see her again at least but still, was she really that scary that you needed me to protect you?"

"I just wanted to her to get the message I wasn't interested, without there being, you know, a scene." I tried to justify myself without letting on just how much I liked pretending to be married to Sookie, because that was just, well, the word pussy sprang to mind.

"So what? You thought if you turned her down she'd cry or something?" Sookie turned to look at me "Just how attractive do you think you are? Can none of us poor women resist Eric Northman in all his glory or something?"

For fuck's sake, what did I do now? I didn't get the anger at all. "No!" I said. "I just wanted her to, you know, know I'm yours…." I trailed off, waiting to see what Sookie's next move would be.

"Humph" she said "Just don't do it again."

There was silence on the way back to the car and I could tell Sookie was still pissed at me. She got the kids in their seats and I put the stroller away and grabbed her before she could get in the car herself. I just pulled her to me and whispered into her hair "I just want you. I'll only ever want you", and then I kissed her.

SPOV

I felt a surge of jealousy when I saw a young, blonde girl sitting chatting to Eric by the playground. I knew I shouldn't, but I did. I really wanted to scream at her to back off, but it would have been a bit over the top.

Eric however, had his own strategy that involved saying I was his wife. He never will learn. It felt quite nice to pretend, but it would have been nicer if he hadn't been pretending so she wouldn't cause a _scene_. Crap. Maybe he did have women throwing themselves at him all the time and crying when he said no?

I didn't know what to think. I wanted to be mad at him, but I couldn't be mad at him for being what he was, could I? And one day he'd be back to his old life with the stupid girls and their scenes and I would never need to know. It wasn't my problem. So I was pretty sure I shouldn't be mad at him anymore.

I really couldn't be mad at him after he kissed me. Damn hormones.

So the rest of the day passed quickly. Eric hung around in the kitchen while I made dinner and kept trying to grope me. He has really long arms. He stopped whenever Amelia was around though.

After a while he sad "Do you think it's weird for her? You know, to see me, um, hug you? Because I'm not her dad?"

I thought for a bit. "I don't know. I don't know what she really remembers about Bill; I don't think it's a lot. And I certainly wouldn't think she'd remember us hugging or anything. She might be jealous of you because she's used to having me almost to herself, but I don't think she'd compare you to him. So I'm pretty sure it's OK"

Eric nodded and I went on with dinner.

Later on, when the kids were finally asleep I suggested coffee in the living room. Eric, however, had other ideas, because I was over his shoulder and half way to the bedroom before I'd even finished speaking.

**Thanks for reading! And for all the lovely reviews, which I so enjoy getting!**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N Just a short little chapter, as I thought I'd get this out while I can. Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

EPOV

I took it as a pretty good sign that Sookie had barely protested when I threw her over my shoulder and carried her off to bed. I think the more sex with Eric plan was definitely working because she started removing her clothes pretty quickly after I set her down. That was fun to watch. It was even more fun to watch her undress me. But the viewing highlight had to be watching her mouth working up and down my cock. Fuck she was good at that.

So we were having a pretty good night all told. I really needed to do something about replacing those ugly black condoms, but they were doing a job so I was making do.

I'd been asleep for a couple of hours, pressed up against Sookie, when I heard the handle on the bedroom door rattle. Shit, had we locked it? Apparently we had, but then Amelia wailed "Mummy!" from the other side.

Sookie sat up immediately "Put some clothes on" she whispered to me, and I started hunting around for my boxers and t-shirt. Sookie threw her pyjamas on and raced out the door.

I could hear murmured sounds coming from the hall, and the sound of the toilet flushing. I hoped that it was just a trip to the bathroom and Sookie would be back soon, because now I was awake again I had some ideas about what might help me get back to sleep.

However, before I could get too far down that line of thinking, Sookie appeared back in the bedroom, accompanied by Amelia who was clutching some kind of soft toy. "Sorry" Sookie whispered to me "she heard a noise outside." Sookie climbed into bed and Amelia climbed in next to her.

"Oh, do you want me to go?"

"Ummm" Sookie seemed to be considering it. Fuck.

Just then Amelia obviously realised I was there, she lent over Sookie and looked at me, then looked up at Sookie and asked "What's Eric scared of?"

"There's, um, lumps in his bed" Sookie replied. I guess that was true.

"Yeah" I said "big ones."

"Oh, OK" said Amelia, and she lay down.

Sookie shrugged and whispered "I think you're good if you don't want to go back to the lumps."

I figured I could still enjoy holding Sookie, so I said "OK, I'll stay then." So we both lay back down and I put an arm round Sookie and eventually we all drifted off.

When I woke up the next morning I was almost lying over the edge of the bed and Amelia was looking down at me. "You snore" she announced and then she took off. Huh. Right. And to top it all off, I'd missed catching Sookie in the shower again.

After I'd showered I headed out to find her in the kitchen. She had her back to me and I thought I might sneak up on her, but I hadn't factored in fat Bob just lying there on the middle of the floor and I tripped over him. "Fu…" I yelled, Sookie turning round and catching my eye just as the word left my mouth. "Yeah", she said. "_Fudge_. Right, Eric?"

"Uh, yeah, right". Bob just blinked at me. How did I not notice something that fat?

I was still staring Bob down when Sookie hugged me and kissed my chest. "Sorry about last night" she murmured.

"Oh, that's OK"

"Did you sleep OK? When I got up you were pretty far over to the edge of the bed. Amelia's little, but she spreads out in her sleep. She's worse than you!" Sookie laughed, and turned back to what she was doing. Worse than me? What was wrong with the way I slept?

I'd been thinking that I really needed something to show Sookie just how useful I was. Well, other than the sex. So after breakfast I said "Uh, now that the spare room isn't being used, I was thinking maybe I could paint it for you?

Sookie turned to look at me "You really want to paint the study?"

"Yeah, I said I would when I first arrived."

"I didn't think you were serious. You've really painted before?"

"Yeah, no problem. Piece of cake." I was pretty sure Amelia could have painted a small square room given half the chance. It was going to be a breeze for me.

Sookie just shrugged and said "OK, well we can start moving stuff out this morning then."

While she was busy with something else I got out my laptop and surreptitiously Googled painting. Didn't seem that hard. I also noticed there was an email from Victor asking about my return date. Fuck. I looked over at Sookie sitting on the floor with Amelia and Felicia. On a whim I sent a reply telling him I wasn't coming back and where to stick his job, although I may have used more of my 'American politeness' in the actual phrasing. I wondered whether to tell Sookie, but I didn't want to scare her. We hadn't discussed when I'd be leaving, so I figured I'd just see what happened next.

We spent part of the morning moving all the junk that was crammed in the spare room into the hallway and family room, leaving just the bigger pieces of furniture. Sookie had a lot of shoes stashed in that closet. Amelia spent a while opening all the boxes they were in and trying them on before leaving them in a heap. At least Felicia couldn't eat these ones I guess.

Also stashed in there were some larger framed wedding photos. Sookie tried to move those out of the way pretty quickly, but Amelia caught sight of them and announced "That's my mummy when she was a princess." Sookie laughed.

"Yeah" I said "You looked beautiful." Sookie blushed and mumbled something and we carried on.

There were some other photo albums which Amelia decided to sit and look through. I glanced at them a few times. The photos of Sookie pregnant were a bit of a revelation. Her boobs were enormous. Fuck. I briefly wondered if it was worth accidentally destroying the ugly black condoms to see that effect in real life, but I didn't want to risk getting no sex at all.

There were the odd photos of Bill in there, and the weird thing was, it didn't really bother me that much. He wasn't here, I was. I'd won. Sure, Sookie might have the odd good memory of him, but they'd fade over time and he'd become insignificant. He wasn't going to be showing up on the doorstep every Saturday looking for his kids. Hell, Felicia wouldn't remember him and Amelia probably wouldn't either. Bill certainly wasn't going to be an obstacle to all three of them being mine, I was pretty sure of that. I just had to figure out how to get Sookie to see it that way. The painting would help.

When everything was moved Sookie helped spread some coversheets over everything and left me to it. She had been muttering about whether some of the surfaces needed sanding back, but that sounded like pure drudgery, so I assured her it wasn't required.

I opened up the paint can, poured some into a tray and set to work with the roller. After about half an hour I was really bored. After an hour I was completely over it. I was right, it wasn't that hard. But soooo boring. I was starting to be glad I had that MBA after all.

I finished one wall and went in search of Sookie to get her thoughts. She'd said she was going out in the back garden to do some weeding. Only when I got out to the deck she and Amelia were next door at that kid Riley's place. On his trampoline. Bouncing. Fuck me. That was better than the horse race. I wondered if I could persuade Sookie to get one of those for Amelia.

I was about to head back into the house, realising that if I watched for too long my shorts were going to be uncomfortably tight, but Sookie spied me and got down and came back over the fence. Actually, her jumping over the fence was a pretty good look too. I wondered how long Amelia would be occupied next door, but Sookie said "So how's the painting going?" and I remembered I was supposed to be working today.

Sookie seemed pleased with what I'd done so far, so after lunch I carried on. It was still fucking boring. And the smell was pretty horrific. I didn't know how people did this all day every day. I was glad it was a really small room.

Amelia would pop in and out to keep an eye on me, and she sat in the doorway and read to me from one of her books for a while. The story rambled a lot and got abandoned half way through, but the company was nice.

I had just about finished the third wall when I stepped back to see what I'd done, and tripped over Bob who was also checking out the progress. Fucking cat. I stumbled and knocked over the paint can. "Fuck" I yelled, as the paint poured onto my foot.

"That's not a nice word" said Amelia's voice from the doorway, and she left, leaving me to deal with the mess. Then I heard her yell to Sookie "Mummy, Eric had an assident."

Sookie appeared "What accident?" she asked, and then she noticed the fact I was hopping next to a pool of paint. She laughed. "Well, at least you mainly got the coversheet" she said.

"Yeah, and my foot!"

"Hang on there; I'll get you something to clean up."

In a few minutes she came back with a bowl of water and helped me get the paint off my foot, and then we picked up the coversheet and moved it outside.

"That's the last of the paint" I said "I'll have to get some more tomorrow".

"Yeah, but it's looking good so far, thanks for this Eric." Sookie pulled me down to kiss me. It was nice but I hoped she'd be really grateful later on.

SPOV

Eric was trying really hard with the painting, but I could tell it wasn't his thing. He looked hot and bored and like he was trying to race through it as quickly as possible. I couldn't blame him; I hated painting a lot too. He was trying though.

He finished up for the day when he ran out of paint, due to a small accident with the paint can. Eric managed to look relieved and annoyed all at once.

Amelia had enjoyed keeping him company though. She sat there and talked his ear off while he worked. She really seemed to be keen on him. Well, I couldn't blame her.

At bedtime she insisted that Eric read her story tonight which was a first. I wasn't sure how he'd go with that, but he seemed happy to do it. And didn't flinch when she insisted that he kiss her goodnight as well. Oh, we were going to miss him so very much.

**Thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N Thanks again for all the responses!**

**Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine.**

SPOV

I was feeling so guilty about Eric painting the study that I offered to massage his shoulders for him. I'd thought maybe I could do it while watching TV, but he was off to the bedroom like a shot. He was such an opportunist.

So I made him lie on his stomach on a towel and sat on his lower back while I worked, which probably isn't the accepted practice, but it made it easier. The only oil I could find was the Bio-oil I'd used to prevent stretchmarks, so it wasn't exactly sexy. Eric was very appreciative though, he told me how nice it felt. Bill had thought my massages sucked because I didn't press hard enough, but Eric was happy with my ministrations.

When he rolled over I could tell just how happy Eric was. Wow. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had this much sex. He pulled me down to kiss him and I felt that burning need to just take off all my clothes and press myself against him. My libido was working overtime.

However once we were naked and I was happily working on the pressing against him bit, Eric looked at me and said "Want to play a game?"

I wasn't sure. "Um, OK" I said.

"Don't be scared. It's a nice game. I'll let you win." He said all of this while stroking my side with his large hand and nuzzling my neck so I was inclined to believe him.

He looked at me again. "You just have to tell me what you want me to do".

Oh, right. I ran through all the reasons I should be able to do this in my head: I was 34 years old, I'd had two kids, and I'd been married for God's sake. I should be able to do this, right? No. Talking about sex was not my forte.

"Oh" I said "um, well what you normally do is fantastic, so let's just do that." I kissed him hoping he'd just move on and we could get down to business.

He pulled back. "Uh-uh Sookie, you don't get off that easily. You have to tell me what you want or I'm not doing anything." He smirked at me and lay back on the bed.

Part of me wanted to tell him he was a dick and then just roll over and go to sleep. But sadly she was in the minority and most of me was voting for sex tonight, even if we had to go along with Eric's evil plan.

"Fine" I huffed. "If you're going to be like that, then, um, my breasts, start with my breasts." I looked over at him, waiting for him to move, and got really annoyed when he didn't.

"You have to say what you want me to do"

"Well touch them, how specific do I have to be?" I was working hard to keep the annoyance out of my voice as I really didn't want to have to pull out the rolling over and going to sleep card.

"Mouth or hands?"

"What?"

Eric sighed. "Do you want me to touch them with my mouth or my hands?"

"Ohhhh, um, both?" I hoped that was the right answer. Maybe there wasn't a wrong one.

Sure enough, Eric got to work pretty quickly, taking one nipple in his mouth and stroking his thumb over the other one. Then he swapped sides. Now we were getting somewhere. I was starting to feel a rather nice burning in the pit of my stomach when Eric stopped and looked up at me. "What next?" he asked grinning "Or am I just doing this all night, because I don't mind, but I thought you might like some variety?"

Ugh. How was I going to phrase this? "Yeah" I said "Um, maybe you could move your hand, you know, _lower down_?"

Eric put his hand on my stomach, which I had to immediately suck in. "Here?" he asked trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Lower". His hand moved millimetres lower.

"Here?"

"Now you're just being mean!" I complained. "You know where I mean. _Between my legs_."

"No, you've got a funny accent, I have no idea what you mean" Eric was now sniggering to himself. Oh yeah, he was a comedian.

"Eric!" I pleaded. He just looked at me "Yes?" he asked.

"Do I really have to say it?"

His face softened "Sookie, just tell me. You're not going to say anything that's going to shock me. And if we can't talk about it then, I don't know, it's like you don't trust me or something." He actually looked a little hurt.

OK I was going to have to suck it up. I tried to use my most authoritative voice. "Eric" I began.

"Yes" he replied

"I want…I want…" I trailed off. "Look, lean down because I think I'll have to whisper it to you."

Eric leant over so my mouth was close to his ear. "I want you to stroke my clitoris, with, um, your fingers." It wasn't so bad if I was whispering I guess.

Eric smiled at me and gave me a quick kiss "See, you can do it." Yeah, I could, and the rewards were pretty nice.

After a while Eric said "Anything else?" I must have really been getting the hang of it because I blurted out "Yeah, um, your fingers. I really really want you to put your fingers in me. In my vagina. I really love that." And I didn't even have to whisper it.

Once I'd come down from my pretty spectacular orgasm Eric said "See, you could do it. I knew you could."

"So what's next?" I asked "Do you tell me what you want?"

"Oh no" he said "I tell you what I'm going to do to you next."

"What's that?"

"Well, first give me your hand. Can you feel how hard my cock is Sookie?"

Yep, could definitely feel that. I nodded.

"I'm going to take my very hard cock and put it in your very, very wet pussy and fuck you until you come again, calling out my name. Does that sound good Sookie?"

"Very good Eric." I might have been getting the hang of it, but Eric was the master of this game.

EPOV

The next morning while Sookie took Amelia to pre-school, I headed off to the hardware store she'd given me directions for to get more paint. Having started the fucking job, I guess I was stuck seeing it through. Even if I died of boredom.

So I wandered into the store with the old paint can, and handed it over to the guy, who gave me another can back and I drove back to Sookie's.

By lunchtime I had finished the remaining wall and stopped to not only eat, but persuade Sookie that Felicia's nap time gave us the perfect opportunity for some alone time in her room. When I got back to the spare room, I realised something was off.

Sookie popped her head in. "Oh" she said, "is that the wall you did today?"

"Yeah"

"Um, it looks a bit different, do you think, or is it just me? Maybe it's the light…"

She was trying to be polite, but no, it was fucking different to the other three walls.

"No, you're right" I said "it's different." I looked at the paint can; it said it was the same colour. I looked at the old can, yep, definitely the same.

"Here, let me look" said Sookie. "Umm, the old one was a quarter strength tint, and it looks like the new one isn't…" she looked at me, waiting for a reaction.

I sad down on the lumpy bed. "Sookie I think we need to get someone in to do this."

"Oh, Eric" she sat down next to me "of course you don't have to do it. It just needs another coat on all the walls. I'll do it sometime, it'll be fine."

"No, no, I really want to get this finished for you, but I think I might just pay someone."

"But, it's my house, so you don't have to worry about it."

Fuck, would she just not let me do this? It was bad enough I had to admit defeat over the painting but I didn't want to completely let her down.

"Well, consider it in lieu of rent, because you know, I'm staying here and not paying you."

"Oh, you don't have to do that."

"Sookie, just let me fucking get a painter in."

"Fine"

I found Sookie's phone book and made a few calls. Within half an hour I had a painter booked to come at the end of the next week. I may have offered to pay him double.

I found Sookie and told her the news. "Oh" she said "Are you going to be here then?"

"Yeah, I was planning on being here still…"

"Oh, great."

I couldn't really read her reaction to that. Was she pleased I was staying? I didn't know, so I decided to hold off on telling her the part where I didn't actually have a job anymore.

SPOV

I think the most flustered I've ever seen Eric was over the painting. He so obviously wasn't designed for DIY. I didn't really know what to say. He was so insistent about getting someone in to do it though. Maybe that's an American thing, here we tend to assume we can do everything ourselves. Unless you're rich of course.

But I couldn't argue any longer so I just gave in. I give in a lot around Eric. And he did at least let slip that he's here until the end of next week. I wanted to ask for the actual date he was going back, but I was too scared to. I was worried it would break me, and I don't want to break down in front of Eric. I want him to think I'm strong, not some idiot who got too hung-up on a guy she could never have.

**Yeah, I know, they're still not talking! But face it, if they sat down and talked it all out I'd have to stop writing this and I'd be sad!**

**Oh, and I don't know if they have Bio-oil in other places, but we slather it on in the hope of not getting stretchmarks. It's just oil, no smell, no colour. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. I love seeing all your comments. So sorry if I haven't replied to you, but I put all my effort into writing this.**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. **

EPOV

Wednesday morning Sookie was doing laundry and started talking about needing groceries again. Worse still, she was talking about Pak N Save. Oh, fuck no.

"Why don't we just order groceries and get them delivered?" I asked.

Sookie looked at me and laughed. "It's OK Eric; I won't make you go back there. I can go by myself."

"I still think we should just order them. What's the point of wandering round a crappy supermarket if you don't have to? And don't say the specials, you just end up spending more money on stuff you don't need."

She opened her mouth to say something, but shut it again. Yeah, I was on to her. She just liked to buy crap in supermarkets.

Sookie went back to unloading the washing machine for a bit then finally said "Fine, we can order them."

"Excellent. And I'll pay."

"Eric, you can't keep paying for stuff. Especially not to feed my kids."

"Sookie I really think it's the least I could do, given I'm staying here and eating your food."

She looked me up and down. "Well you do eat a lot…" she said teasingly. "But we'll go halves, I don't want you having to pay for nappies and formula and stuff like that."

"Yep." I figured I could get round that one later on. However, Sookie continued to be annoyingly stubborn, and resist my attempts to carry the laundry basket for her.

"Honestly, Eric! It's just some washing, I'm fine with it. How do you think I manage when you're not here?"

I wasn't going to answer that one. I really didn't like the way she said 'when you're not here' rather than 'before you were here'. I just held onto the basket and waited until she let go.

"Fine" she said "you can carry it! Although I'm not completely helpless you know?" She was grumbling now, while following me out to the washing line.

"I know, but I enjoy helping you. So just shut up." I kissed her, hoping that would work, but I'm pretty sure I heard some muttering about 'weird Americans and their odd ideas on chivalry'.

After the laundry was out I got out my laptop and Sookie sat at the table to start ordering. When she'd finished she asked if there was anything I wanted so I took over and had a browse through the stuff available. I got a few snacks and things, some more beer and a couple of bottles of wine. I saw that Sookie had ordered a box of condoms that weren't black, but I ordered a couple more boxes anyway. And then I just put the whole order on my credit card.

Sookie appeared back in the room and looked over my shoulder. "Oh" she said "Have you paid for it all? Just tell me how much I owe you OK?"

I mumbled something that sounded like an affirmative and left it at that.

The phone rang at that point, and Sookie took off to answer it. She was gone for a while so I continued to surf the net. I also discovered that Victor had replied to my email and had accepted my resignation. OK, well that was done, I guess.

Sookie came back and said her friend Tara had called and invited her over for coffee, and was I alright if she and Felicia went over there for a while? I said sure, no problem, I was good. I had some research to do anyway.

"Great, well I won't be long then" Sookie said "Just keep an eye on the washing and bring it in if it rains. OK?"

"Yep, no problem" I said, hoping the weather wasn't going to do that weird change thing it did the other day.

Sookie laughed. "You can pretty much guarantee it's going to rain if I put the washing on the line."

Guess it was then.

SPOV

I was actually really glad to hear from Tara. I needed to talk over the whole Eric situation with someone and I trusted her to at least try to not be judgmental about the whole thing. It was a pretty odd situation when you stepped back and thought about it. I wasn't actually sure what I was going to tell Tara.

In the end I waited until we were sitting down with our drinks, having exchanged the usual small talk and Tara had admired Felicia's attempts at crawling.

"So, do you miss being at work?" Tara asked.

"Um, not so much as I thought I would. It was nice being an adult again, but I didn't like all the bullshit that goes on in offices. It's just not me anymore. I'm leaving the politics to Amelia in the sandpit."

Tara laughed. "Well, it probably did you the world of good to be normal again for a while. Shame you didn't meet anyone to hook up with while you were there."

"Yeah, um, well…you remember that consultant I told you about, the American one?"

"Oh my god! Did something happen?"

"Well, yeah, but not until I stopped working, um…" I looked over at Tara, who was leaning forward in her seat, eager for the rest of the story. "Well, he's staying with me for a bit so he can holiday in Auckland."

"But, hang on, have you slept with him?"

"Well…um…yeah…." I looked over at Tara to judge her reaction. I hoped she wasn't going to call me a callous cow who was an embarrassment to widows everywhere. Tara was smiling at me though. "Well good for you!" she said "I think you need to have some fun."

"Oh" I said. "But isn't it weird, you know, because he's staying with me? Isn't that over the top? Won't I be somehow damaging my kids forever?" I wasn't sure why I thought Tara had the answer to everything, but I'd known her since I was 12 and I knew she wouldn't lie to me.

"Sookie" she said "I think you just need to stop worrying for a bit. You can't control everything. I think you need to ask yourself whether you're happy with the situation. Are you?"

I thought about it. Yeah, I was. Despite the niggling worry about what happened when Eric left, when he was around it felt amazingly normal. And I liked him being there.

"Yeah I am happy."

"Well then, I think the kids will just deal with it. They'll pick up more from you than from anything. Amelia hasn't thrown a hissy-fit about it, has she?"

"No, she likes Eric a lot too."

"Well then you're fine."

But I wasn't completely convinced. "But what about when he leaves? He's younger than me, and obviously not from here, so at some point, poof! He's back out of lives again."

"Sookie I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you what that will be like. But you're strong and you'll cope if you have to. You probably just need to keep on living in the present and enjoying what you have. But you are enjoying it, aren't you?"

"Yeah, it's great. It's like, having a boyfriend again, you know? That nice bit when they do stuff for you and you feel all squidgy inside when you see them."

Tara laughed, but I had a feeling that she felt pretty squidgy inside when she saw JB. I'd seen them looking at each other. It was completely different to the way Bill and I looked at each other.

"So this, guy, Eric is it?" I nodded "Is he nice to you?"

"Of course he is. I wouldn't have him around if he wasn't."

"Good. It used to seriously piss me off when Bill used to tell you what to do all the time."

I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it again. Yeah, she was right. I just didn't think anyone really noticed. Of course in the beginning, in the whole boyfriend phase, he hadn't done it so much, or I wasn't paying attention to it, or something. But Bill liked things done a certain way. And he liked me to be a certain way. He certainly hadn't liked Tara, he hadn't spoken to me for an entire day once after we'd all been to the cricket and Tara and I had drunk too many of those mini bottles of wine and had started talking loudly about Brendon McCullum's bum. But although he may have glared at Tara as well as me on that occasion, I hadn't realised that Tara had figured out the whole dynamic we had going on. Wow.

So all I could think of to say was "Yeah, he did that, didn't he?"

"All the time. And you just used to take it. You were so totally different when you were around him sometimes."

OK. Interesting. I'd think about that later maybe. I decided to change the subject.

"So have you guys been up to Piha recently? Eric went sight-seeing there with some of his colleagues, and I thought of the bach and the all thetimes we used to go there."

"Not recently, although we'll go up after Christmas. Hey, do you guys want to go up there?"

"Oh, I would, but it's probably not so great with small kids…" I loved that bach, but it was basic with a capital B.

"Well, what about you and Eric? I could have the kids for a couple of nights. Hey, you could go this weekend and see what it's like when it's just the two of you?"

I was starting to get the impression that Tara was keen to live vicariously through me. Maybe I was better than a romance novel.

"Ummm…" I said. "Are you sure you want them? Felicia's only a baby."

"Oh, come on Sookie. I won't break your kids! Look mine are fine still and I've had Charlotte for 8 years!"

She walked over to the big calendar on her fridge. "We're pretty free this weekend, do you want to go on Friday evening and come back Sunday morning?"

"I guess so…"

"Great, settled. Just bring the kids around in the late afternoon. We'll be back from school about 3.30pm. And I'll just make JB take them to the park on Saturday. We'll be fine" and she was off chatting about all the stuff they could do. I figured it was a done deal. Well, I hoped Eric would be pleased.

EPOV

While Sookie was out I had quite a productive time. I checked out visas in New Zealand and talked to an immigration agent; it looked as though I might be able to help my case if I invested in a New Zealand business. The agent asked whether I had anyone who could sponsor me, and I wondered whether Sookie would, but maybe not quite yet.

I also emailed some realtors in Shreveport with a view to selling my condo. I was going to need that money available for any investment I was going to make here. And to buy myself a place in Auckland, although hopefully I wouldn't need to, but I wanted Sookie to be comfortable so maybe it was best to not overwhelm her completely.

And I may have spent a bit of time researching trampolines.

I did manage to catch the rain starting though so got the laundry in for Sookie. Fucking Auckland weather.

Sookie was looking pretty happy when she got back from her friend's place. "Guess what?" she asked.

"Umm, Felicia's going for a nap right now?" I answered hopefully.

She swatted my arm. "You are naughty! No, you and I are going way for a couple of nights?"

"We are?" I asked. I had visions of hotel rooms with large showers and even larger beds. That sounded fucking fantastic.

"Yeah, Tara's lending us the family bach at Piha!"

"Bach?"

"Holiday home. Cabin-thingee. You'll see, it'll be great. I used to have a lot fun there with her when I was at uni. We're going Friday night and coming back Sunday.

"Cool." I liked the idea of the trip, wasn't so sure about Piha. I hoped like fuck Sookie wasn't going to make me climb Lion Rock again.

Sookie seemed pleased with that and went off to play with Felicia. I thought about whether or not I should tell her what I'd been looking into while she was out, but I thought maybe this time away would give me the opportunity to bring the subject up. When it was just the two of us. Yep, that was definitely the best plan.

After Sookie had picked up Amelia from pre-school, we heard the sound of the grocery truck arriving. Sookie and I headed to the front door to let the delivery guy in.

I whispered to Sookie "We're not tipping him if he leaves it all for you to unload and just stares at your boobs like he did last week."

"Eric!" Sookie hissed. "There is so much wrong with that! First, we're not tipping him at all because this is New Zealand. Secondly, you only know about what he did last week because you were spying on me. Thirdly, you stare at my boobs all the time!"

By this stage the guy had brought the plastic crates with the grocery bags in them to the front door, and I set about unloading the groceries, while staring at the guy to let him know I thought he was a douche. After he'd gone back to his truck I turned to Sookie "It's different if I stare at your boobs."

"How, Eric?"

I shrugged. "It just is. I get to have sex with you, so, you know, I get privileges."

"So, what, you own me now or something?"

I didn't get why she was angry. Surely it was obvious that I was going to stare at her boobs. They were fantastic. But I didn't want ever other fucker out there staring at them too.

"I don't know what the problem is…" I started to say, but Sookie cut me off.

"No, you wouldn't" she said, and she stormed off, taking some of the groceries with her to the kitchen.

I grabbed some bags and followed her. We unpacked in silence for a bit. I tried to work out if kissing her would make it better, but she was giving off a definite 'don't touch me' vibe at the moment.

After a while Sookie put her arm around my waist and whispered "Sorry", and I figured we were good. However, about five minutes after that she started frowning.

"Eric, did you order all these biscuits?"

"Huh?"

"The cookies, Eric. Did you order them all?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Wow. Amelia is going to be your best friend forever. I can't believe you're going to eat all that crap. And how many bags of chips are in that bag?" she pointed to the bag I was holding.

I feeling a bit pissed at her now. I didn't need her criticising my dietary choices. "What's your problem?" I asked, a bit harsher than I really wanted to.

"Nothing, I'm just astounded you can eat all that and still look like you do. I guess that's the joys of being young." She turned back to unpacking, but now I was really mad. She seemed determined to treat me like some kind of frat boy who couldn't look after himself. Was this all I was to her? Some kid she could keep around for a while?

"Sookie, you are not my mother! I don't need you monitoring what I eat!"

"Fine, whatever. I was just surprised when all that stuff arrived was all." She kept unpacking but I'd had enough and said I was going for a walk.

What I really wanted was a drink. So I walked around the block and then stopped at the liquor store on the corner. I felt a lot better just knowing I had the bourbon.

I didn't get a chance to start drinking when I got back, as Sookie informed me, rather frostily, that dinner was ready. So we sat and ate, Sookie and I barely talking but Amelia chattering away regardless. I guess it's like that with kids around; you pretend.

After dinner though I took the bottle and a glass and went and sat on the deck. A little while later Amelia appeared in her pyjamas to say goodnight to me, but Sookie just stayed in the house. The only company I had was Bob until he fucked off to do whatever it is cats do at night. Probably steal food.

The bourbon didn't really help though. What I really fucking wanted to know was what Sookie thought about me? Did she want me, really want me? Or was this just convenient for her?

I decided I needed her to tell me. I found her sitting in bed reading. As I walked in the room she looked up from her book. "Eric, I'm really sorry. I'm just…kind of used to being in charge here I guess. I wasn't trying to tell you off. I'm…I'm sorry is all."

She looked down at her lap, waiting for me to reply. All I knew in that minute was that I wanted her to prove she wanted me as much as I wanted her. "Sookie, it's OK. Just no more talking, alright? No. More. Fucking. Talking."

I lay on the bed next to her and took her face in my hands and kissed her once and then started taking off her pyjamas as quickly as I could. I pulled off my own t-shirt and kicked off my shorts and underwear. I reached down to test how ready Sookie was. Not quite.

I was feeling a bit frantic by this time so I buried my face between her legs and licked and sucked while she writhed and moaned. I inserted a finger in her and felt just how wet she was now. Her hips were lifting and I could tell she was about to come, but I didn't want that, not just yet.

I sat up. "Condoms?" I asked hoarsely. Sookie pointed to the drawer in her nightstand where she'd stashed them. It seemed to take years to open the box and extract one. Finally I had it on, and I plunged into her. I had an almost primal need to be inside her.

Almost immediately I felt her start to tighten and tense up as she came. I continued pumping into her, listening to her quiet moans as her hands clutched my back. All I could say was "Sookie" over and over again. She was everything.

Her movements sped up and I moved one hand down to rub her clit. "Sookie, open your eyes, look at me" I said. I wanted to watch her while she came, like the first time. Her eyes shot open and she stared back at me. "Oh, Eric!" she moaned, and she came and that sent me over the edge. I buried my face in her neck and thought of all the things I wanted to tell her. All I could say was "Fuck Sookie, that was amazing." And it was. And she definitely wanted me. And everything else could wait as long as I knew that.

**Thanks for reading!**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N I know I'm repeating myself, but thank-you all for the reviews! And the alerts and adding me to favourites! I can't believe this is actually being read by someone other than me.**

SPOV

I wasn't really sure what had happened with Eric and me on Wednesday night. One minute we were happy to be going away, the next minute we were fighting. Eric just didn't get why I was upset with him asserting prior claim to my boobs. In a way it was kind of sweet, in a way that I guess appealed to the part of me that still thought she lived in a cave, but even so, I didn't mind. What got me upset was the fact that pretty soon he'd be gone and it wouldn't matter anymore if weird Foodtown truck drivers stared at my chest. In a few years I might even be grateful for the attention.

And then things went from bad to worse over the stuff he'd ordered in the groceries. There was something about seeing all those biscuits arrive, when God knows he'd probably not be here long enough to eat them. And I'd be left with a 3 year old trying to break into the pantry every five minutes.

I could understand Eric going out for a bit, but I wasn't really thrilled about the drinking on the deck. But given he'd just had a go at me for trying to be his mother I wasn't about to wade into that one with him. At least I knew where he was I guess.

So when he came to bed I did my best to apologise, without making it seem all his fault for, I don't know, not being able to stay here forever.

Eric seemed OK with the apology because after that he was all over me like a rash. It was extremely intense. At one stage I was a bit worried about the bed breaking, or maybe me. But it was flattering to be wanted that much. He was saying my name over and over and it was like he couldn't focus on anything but me. And then the whole 'look into the eyes thing'. Like I said, intense. I can't remember the last time I experienced such…passion, I guess you'd call it. Maybe I never thought I would.

The next morning he was fast asleep again when I wriggled out from underneath him. I looked at him; he did look rather sexy with the stubble on his face. I stroked his cheek; no response. Maybe I was wearing him out? I sighed and headed for the shower.

EPOV

When I got up the next morning things seemed back to normal. Sookie gave me a quick kiss, but then went back to chasing Amelia round with the hairbrush. I left them to it to go and make coffee.

Sookie re-appeared looking flustered. "She's being a right madam this morning. It's taken forever to get her ready. If I take her to pre-school, can I leave Felicia here with you? And can you give her breakfast?"

I looked at Felicia. I wasn't sure, the last time I was in charge of her it didn't work out that well. Then again, if I was feeding her she was just sitting the highchair and I was controlling what went in there, wasn't I?

"Sure, no problem" I said. Spooning slop into a baby. Pretty sure I could do it.

So Sookie took off with Amelia in tow and I was left with Felicia and a bowl of what I was assured was banana porridge. Felicia squealed and clapped when she saw it. Well at least she was going to enjoy this.

I pulled up a chair in front of her highchair and sat down. I took a spoonful and moved it towards her mouth, only one of the waving, chubby little hands intercepted it and the contents of the spoon went everywhere. Shit. It was all down her front and she wasn't wearing one of those bib things.

I put the bowl down on the highchair tray and looked around but I couldn't see where Sookie would have put one. When I looked back at Felicia she'd picked up the bowl and was waving it in the air. I grabbed it back. Luckily only a small amount had dripped out.

So I grabbed a cloth and did my best to clean up Felicia and the highchair. No bib though. In desperation I grabbed a teatowel and tied that around her neck. She was starting to wonder where her breakfast had gone and was making rather loud complaining noises.

I tried again, but the chubby hand darted out, and, although I managed to dodge it, it prevented me from getting the spoon to her mouth. Felicia frowned and started to cry. Shit. It didn't look this hard when Sookie did it.

I grabbed the other teatowel from the rack and tucked it around her body so it sort of pinned her arms to her sides. I was pretty sure that was allowed. Well, Sookie would never know.

After that we got on a lot better, I could get the spoon to her mouth and she was happier now she was actually getting fed. We were onto the last few spoonfuls when Felicia stopped eating. And went really red in the face. And made some grunting noises.

Oh, this wasn't good. Fuck. I didn't want to change a diaper. Not one that had been pooped in. I'd accidentally seen Sookie do it and I was pretty traumatised.

Felicia looked at me and let out a huge wail. Yeah, it wouldn't feel that great would it. Maybe if I just went really slowly, it would look like I was dealing with it, but Sookie would be home before I really had to face the disgusting diaper and its contents? That could work.

So I moved the teatowels off Felicia and took her out of the highchair. I headed to her room and placed her on the change table. I counted to ten, but Sookie didn't arrive and Felicia started to really cry, so there was nothing for it, I had to go in.

I pulled off the pyjama pants she was wearing and realised the diaper hadn't done its job properly as the contents had spilled out. Oh fuck. I counted to ten again, still no Sookie. I was wishing to God I'd just left Felicia in the highchair and played ignorant.

I held my breath and opened up the diaper. Oh fuck that was just…horrible. How the fuck could something that little produce all that crap? I grabbed one of the baby wipes and made a half-hearted attempt to clean her up, but that shit was everywhere. Literally.

I didn't think wipes were really going to do the job. I pulled off her pyjama top and singlet, which managed to smear more of the poop up her back. Now I was stuck with a naked, poopy baby who was getting upset with me. Fuck.

I put my hand on her chest and balanced her as best I could and sprinted down to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and tested the temperature before I held Felicia under it. Well that got her looking a bit cleaner anyway. And she seemed to have stopped crying although she was looking a bit surprised.

I grabbed a towel and wrapped her in it and put her down on the floor while I sprinted back to get a diaper from her room. The change table was still covered in the abomination that was the previous diaper and her clothes so I was leaving that for the moment.

However, I had to figure out how the damn thing went on. I should have paid more attention to the one that came off, but I was too busy trying to avoid being covered in poop. I thought I had it pretty much figured out, so I laid it on the floor next to Felicia and lifted her out of the towel. But then I thought that maybe the diaper went the other way around and that the sticky bits should be at the back, so I adjusted it.

Suddenly my chest felt rather warm and wet. Oh fuck, now I'd been peed on. Felicia just laughed. I laid her on the diaper, figuring I needed to get her covered up as soon as possible, and I managed to stop her trying to roll away for long enough to get it done up. It looked a little saggy. I hoped it would do.

Just then Sookie appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. "What happened?" she asked.

"Uh, poop. Lots of it. And she peed on me and thought it was funny." Sookie obviously thought it was funny too.

"Yeah, ha ha."

"Oh Eric, it's an initiation rite. You have to get them changed pretty quickly to avoid it."

I handed Felicia to Sookie and pulled off my t-shirt. "I could have done without being initiated into the tribe of people who have been peed on" I grumbled.

"Hey, what happened to her clothes?" Sookie asked, holding out her hand to take the shirt from me.

"Oh, um, on the change table. There, um, might be some laundry…"

"Ohhh. Like that, was it? Did you poo all through your clothes again, Felicia?"

She does this all the time?

"Right, well you go and get cleaned up I'll go and deal with what's in her room.

Once Sookie had got everything soaking she asked me what I wanted to do for the day and I suggested that maybe we should go out for lunch, it was probably the closest we were going to get to an actual date, even if we did have the amazing pooping baby accompanying us.

So we walked up to the Mt Eden village and Sookie took me into what I thought was a kind of pub, but is apparently a Belgian beer café. So we sat on the terrace and shared a pot of mussels, and drank some of the beers. Sookie had one that tasted like raspberries and made her a bit giggly. All the tension from the previous day had disappeared and Sookie told me about the trips she'd taken to this bach we were going to tomorrow. It was funny to hear about the younger Sookie, getting drunk on cheap fizzy wine and falling over on the beach.

Then she said "But of course Bill used to hate it when I went away with Tara. He didn't like the fact we'd drink and be silly. We tried going away with him, and Tara's husband JB, but it didn't work out. He was never that great around other people."

Huh. Bill sounds like a complete buzzkill. Who wouldn't want to watch Sookie be silly? She was as entertaining as fuck the night we had the drinks with the bank people; I'll never forget the look on Sophie-Anne's face when Sookie was calling her Soph. Sookie had no fear. It was quite a sight.

Sookie was looking wistful. "You know" she said "I think there's something to be said for not necessarily marrying the guy you meet at 18."

At a loss for what to say to that I just said "Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted to marry any of the girls I knew when I was 18."

Sookie raised her eyebrows, "Any?" she asked.

Shit was I in trouble again? It was 10 years ago.

"Well, you know, just generally speaking…"

"Oh, it's fine Eric. I don't care. In a way I wish I could lay claim to having had more than one boyfriend back then."

"So, that one boyfriend…was Bill?"

"Yep. Met him at 18. My first and only boyfriend. And then my husband."

So I was only the second guy for Sookie then? Wow. I wanted to ask more, but didn't want to push her. The subject must have been closed though, because she started talking about something else.

Felicia refused to sleep in the stroller, so she was grumpy by the time we got back. Sookie went to cuddle her for a bit and I found the both of them fast asleep in Sookie's bed. I guess the beer, food and sunshine had made Sookie sleepy as well.

I decided just to join them so lay down on the other side and dozed off. When I woke up Sookie and Felicia were still asleep but I realised it was almost time to pick up Amelia.

As I sat up Sookie stirred, "Oh, Amelia..." she said. "Sssh" I replied "you keep sleeping; I'll go for a walk and get her."

"Are you sure?" she whispered.

"Positive." I kissed her and headed out.

It was a pretty quick walk to Amelia's pre-school. I'd been there a few times by now, but only ventured in once or twice. It was a bit scary. It was full of kids like Amelia, all screaming and running round. And staring at me.

Today when I got inside it was pretty empty. I guess with the nice weather they were playing outside. One kid came wandering over to me and said "You Meela's daddy?"

"Uh, no, I'm Eric."

"She's in the sandpit." Wow, kids this age didn't do social niceties I guess.

The kid sprinted off and I could hear him outside yelling "Meela! Your Eric is here!"

I located the sandpit and a very sandy Amelia hugged my legs "Eric! Build me a sandcastle?" She looked up at me expectantly. I wondered briefly how I got into this.

I crouched down and took the bucket and spade Amelia offered me. After about five minutes I had built something that I was pretty pleased with. I stood back to admire my handiwork. Then about five kids, including Amelia, jumped on it and yelled "Yay!" Right, that was the game then.

"Build another one!" demanded Amelia.

About five sandcastles later I managed to persuade Amelia it was really time to leave. We dug her shoes out of the sand, brushed ourselves off and said goodbye to the crowd of kids that had gathered to jump on sandcastles.

After collecting her bag we started the walk home. "Eric" Amelia said "Maisie's daddy drops her off and reads us stories in the morning. She said I don't have a daddy. But I don't care. I like the sandcastles."

I wanted to ask her if she missed having a daddy, but wasn't sure how she'd deal with that at only 3. But she continued anyway. "My daddy was sad to leave me but he loved me a lot. But it's OK because Mummy loves me and you love me. Will you be sad to leave me?"

Oh. "Um, yeah, I would be sad. But I'm not leaving."

"OK." I waited for her to say something else but her brain had moved on "Can I have a marshmallow?"

"We'll have to ask your mom."

"I'm pretty sure she'll say yes."

So we walked the rest of the way home with Amelia chattering about her day and every so often reminding me that we had to ask Sookie about the marshmallows.

The rest of the day passed pretty much as normal, but I was busy thinking about what Sookie had said at lunchtime about Bill. I still couldn't believe that he would have treated Sookie like that. And that she let him. Thank God I never had to see it; I'd be tempted to punch him. Repeatedly.

When we went to bed that night I wanted to show Sookie just how wonderful I thought she was, and that I would never, ever, want her to be any different. That this was just the beginning of us.

SPOV

Eric was so sweet about me falling asleep in the bed; beer in the sun is a bad combo. And he even went to get Amelia which was lovely; although I think he got conscripted into sandpit duty. It's amazing how the teachers all bugger off when another adult arrives.

Later on, in bed, he was so very different from the night before. The urgency was gone, and he spent ages just stroking every part of my body. It was so tender. He whispered "Sookie, I never want to hurt you" and I knew, I knew this was the beginning of the end, that Eric was starting to think about when he would leave me. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. Not in front of him. Tears would be for after he'd gone. Instead I tried to think about what Tara had said to me about living in the present. We were going away, we'd have a good time, and then I'd face next week when I had to.

**Thanks for reading!**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N Thanks to all who are reading, reviewing and alerting this story. When I started this (on a dare to myself) I had no idea if I'd ever be able to keep up the momentum of writing it, and I was a bit worried I'd struggle to update once a week, given I'm a consumate procrastinator. But all your lovely comments work wonders and look how far we've got with it! So I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I'm off to work on the next one!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

EPOV

My brain simply couldn't place the ungodly noise that woke me up. Sookie sat straight up in bed, flinging my arm off her in the process, and said "Rat!"

"What?" I mumbled, feeling like I was missing something. Sookie was out of bed and pulling on a robe. "Rat, Eric. That's Bob's 'I've got something cool' yowl. It will probably be a rat. Come on."

Come on where? I didn't want to see it. But I got myself out of bed and put on my boxers and followed Sookie out of the room. We found Bob in the living room, crouched down holding a fucking huge rat by the neck, still making that awful yowling sound.

"Good, he hasn't let go of it yet" said Sookie "You grab Bob and I'll open the front door and we'll just chuck the pair of them outside."

I didn't want to go near either of them, but I started to move slowly towards Bob. Sure enough as soon as I got within reach, Bob dropped the rat and ran off. Fuck. The rat was now behind the cabinet.

Sookie came back in. "Where is it?" she asked. I pointed. "Fuck!" she said. I agreed. She went into the kitchen then came back with rubber gloves and a broom. "Right" she said, holding the gloves out to me "I'll poke from this end and you grab him when he comes out."

I didn't take the gloves off her. "Um, can't we just get an exterminator in…?"

"Eric! We are not leaving a rat to roam around this house until we can get someone in! There is a baby here! It's just a rat! Fine, you have the broom and I'll catch it."

So I took the broom handle and poked it behind the cabinet, but the rat raced out past both of us and shot under the couch. Sookie went wandering off muttering to herself and came back with a torch. She crouched down to take a look. "He's still under there" she said "so if you move the couch, I'll try to grab him."

We tried that manoeuvre but this just made the rat run behind the TV. This was getting really annoying. "Isn't the point of cats that they keep vermin OUT of your house?" I asked.

"Bob can't help being a cat" Sookie snapped "and anyway, he's probably only brought it in because you're here." She was now shining the torch under the TV cabinet trying to see where he'd gone.

"Why is this to do with me?"

"Well, he's trying to show that he's still capable of looking after us. So he hunted for me, and brought me food." Sookie stood up and looked around the back of the TV.

"How is a rat food? Bob doesn't even want to eat it. I can hear him in the kitchen eating cat biscuits."

"Oh, it's an instinct thing. He doesn't really know why he does it. He just does. Now come over here and move the TV cabinet and I'll try to grab it." So I moved the TV and Sookie pounced. "Got it!" she yelled, holding the disgusting thing by the tail. "Quick, open the front door before he climbs up and bites me."

Yeah, I didn't want to have to treat Sookie for a rat bite, so I sprinted to front door and she followed and literally threw the rat out.

"Shouldn't we have, I don't know, killed it?" I asked.

"Oh, no, I'm not killing anything. Even rats. We'll just have to hope Bob can't track him down and bring him in again."

Fuck yes, we were hoping for that. I guess I knew what Bob did at night now though. We went back into the living room to put the furniture back.

"Thanks for your help Eric" Sookie said.

"Oh, OK. No problem. Do you have to do this often?"

"Well it's an old suburb; they can hide in hedges and under people's houses. So we've had a few rats. Which is why I'm used to it now" she smiled at me.

"You're the hottest rat-catcher I've ever seen. That robe kept falling open…"

Sookie swatted my arm. "You're such a big pervert!"

I grabbed her. "So can we go back to bed now?"

"Yeah, come on then."

Even with the broken sleep from the rat incident Sookie was still up and showered before I had stirred. Fuck, I was going to have to start setting an alarm.

Sookie spent the morning getting ready for going away. It seemed to require a great deal of packing. I put about three things in a bag and declared myself done. Sookie busied herself with ironing most of the stuff in the house; I had to steal my jeans off her before she ironed them. Leaving her to it I hung out with Amelia. It was OK. I'd figured out that if I just did what she wanted things were good, although sometimes it was fun to play dumb and watch her get frustrated. She'd stomp her foot and get the same look in her eyes that Sookie did when she thought I was annoying. If I laughed it got worse. But she was pretty forgiving, and we were getting on OK.

SPOV

I had discovered that Eric was pretty useless at dealing with vermin. OK at moving furniture, but he looked completely panicked when I suggested he go near the rat. It was kind of sweet though. If he'd stopped to think about it, he would have realised that the rat was far more scared of him than he should be of it.

But he was good with Amelia and kept her occupied for the morning, while I packed for me and two kids, plus gathered the bedding and food we'd need at the bach. I could hear lots of giggling coming from them while I was ironing. At one stage I found them in the kitchen with a bag of the biscuits Eric had bought. Yeah, they were best buddies now.

Eric volunteered to make us omelettes for lunch. Amelia ate hers without complaint even though he put mushrooms in it. I'm not allowed to wave a mushroom anywhere near her food. I hoped that she wouldn't be too upset when he left and would just remember the nice stuff, like the day Eric made her an omelette.

By about 3pm we were pretty much all packed and ready to head to Tara's. Amelia was torn between being put out we were going without her (i.e. that I was taking Eric away from her) and excited that she'd get to hang out with the much older and more glamorous Charlotte.

So we dropped the two kids and their huge amounts of belongings off with Tara. Tara looked Eric up and down, but was very polite and stuck to asking innocuous questions. I knew I was going to be grilled later on though; Tara kept winking at me.

EPOV

Sookie's friend Tara, the one Bill didn't like, seemed OK. Thanks to her I wasn't getting two nights with Sookie to myself, so I couldn't really complain after all.

I helped Sookie unclip the carseats out of her car which was fiddly as fuck. I hoped we could get them back in again. And then after lots of hugs and kisses from Amelia we were off.

Sookie let me drive her car which was great until we hit traffic. "Bugger" said Sookie "The Northwestern motorway is always horrific in the afternoons."

I hated being stuck in traffic, but it wasn't too bad with Sookie. She'd brought some candy and stuff and we ate that and she tried to entertain us by making up stories about the people in the other cars around us. Even so, I was glad when we could leave the motorway and head out towards Piha.

Once we were clear of the suburbs it was even better. The last time I'd been this way I'd been crushed in the back of the rental car listening to Chow battle with his GPS. It was a lot more fun to be driving myself. Even if Sookie's directions were a bit vaguer than the GPS. Not to mention the fact that she kept reminding me to stay on the left. And leaning that way in her seat as if it would help. I may have drifted a bit closer to the centre line on occasion just to get a reaction out of her.

Eventually we made it down the winding slope to Piha and Sookie directed me to where we were staying. She had been telling me it was basic, but I hadn't really realised.

We had to park at the bottom of a hill and then trek all our belongings up a steep slope to the bach itself. The path, which wasn't really a path, was just grass and Sookie said it was a nightmare in the rain when it was just mud.

Apparently the bach had once been a cabin for loggers. The hill behind was still covered in dense bush, even the patch of land that went with the place. Sookie shoved open the back door and we went in. Yep, it was basic. There were only two rooms, a bedroom and a combination kitchenette/living room/bedroom. I walked around. It didn't take long.

"Where's the bathroom?" I asked Sookie.

"We passed it on the way in – by the backdoor. It's in the lean-to out the back."

Lean-what? I went back out the backdoor and sure enough, there was a sort of addition attached to the back wall, which housed a very basic shower, toilet and handbasin. The wooden walls didn't reach the tin roof and there was a gap of about 6 inches all the way around the top. I was glad it wasn't winter. As it was I was going to struggle as the roof was pretty low. I sighed. Probably no showering with Sookie here either.

I went back to find Sookie who was making up the bed in the bedroom with linens she'd brought from home. I looked at the bed. "That bed is fucking small."

Sookie shrugged. "It's a double I guess, you wouldn't be able to fit anything bigger in here."

I wandered off again and this time opened up the doors at the front and stepped out onto the deck. The view was amazing. Because the place was on a hill it looked right across a camping ground and some other houses and down to the beach. Lion Rock was clearly visible in the centre of the view. I inhaled the sea air. Yeah, this was pretty good I guess.

Sookie was now putting groceries in the tiny kitchenette. There wasn't a stove, just a microwave and toaster oven, but there was a small fridge. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked. I shook my head no and sat down on the couch. Sookie came over and straddled my lap. "So" she said "glad you came up here?"

I buried my face in her neck "I am now" I replied.

SPOV

I could tell Eric was itching to drive so I let him loose on the way to Piha. The traffic on the Northwestern was pretty horrific though. Ugh, I would so hate to have to do that every day.

He was pretty good at coping with the twists and turns on the Piha Road, even if I did have to keep telling him to stay left.

I think the bach was a bit of a revelation for him though. I had tried to warn him, but I guess seeing is a different thing. But as basic as it was it was clean and cosy and there's nothing like being near the sea for relaxing you.

And I was feeling pretty relaxed. I'd given myself a pep talk and I was going to enjoy this holiday with Eric if it killed me. And, as I sat on his lap on the couch, I realised there was a lot to enjoy about being in a small space alone with Eric.

I'd lost my t-shirt pretty quickly and Eric had pulled down the cups of my bra to get better access to my breasts. As fixated with my breasts as he was, I discovered that I had a pretty strong need for my breasts to be making some kind of contact with Eric at times. I figured it made us quite a good pair. So I had known what I was doing when I sat down and pushed them into his face.

I wasn't above teasing him with other things though. "So how do you like the couch?" I asked.

Eric said something that sounded like "Mmphf?"

"The couch, do you like it?"

"S'ok"

"Because as you said yourself, the bed's very small. And you're…not small…" Eric looked up and smirked at me. I continued "So in the interests of me not being squished, I thought you could have the couch."

Eric frowned, "The couch?"

"Yeah, it pulls out to a bed. Or there are the bunk beds over there, but you might struggle with them."

Eric kept looking at me while I gestured to the set of bunks at the other end of the small room. I tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn't stop breaking into a smile at his expense, and he realised what was going on.

"Ha ha" he said "very funny. You know what happens to girls who think they're funny?"

"Not staying to find out" I said and I shot off his lap. Eric grabbed at me, but I shrieked and ran into the bedroom. I think he may have given me a head start, but to be honest the place was so small and there was no where to go so it didn't matter. His hands grabbed at my waist and I landed on my stomach on the bed with Eric on top of me.

That knocked a bit of air out of me and Eric lifted his chest off my back. "OK?" he asked.

"Yep, fine" I said, and I started wriggling to try to get away from where his hips still had me trapped underneath him.

"Mmm, you know I really like the wriggling, don't you?" he said, and he pushed his groin into my bum to prove his point. Yep, he was enjoying this. I giggled and wriggled harder.

The short summer skirt I was wearing had flipped up when I'd crashed down and there wasn't much fabric left between me and the bulge in Eric's shorts. He let me writhe around for a bit longer and then he snuck a hand underneath me and into the front of my knickers, and cupped my mound. Oh. His hand was really warm, but more to the point now all that wriggling was having an effect on me as my nub rubbed against the palm of his hand.

"Oh, that's not fair!" I said indignantly. Eric laughed, but didn't move his hand. I suppose I could have stopped moving, but where would the fun have been in that?

One of his fingers pushed into me and I started moving with a bit more rhythm. Eric nuzzled the back of my neck and I was overwhelmed, between the nuzzling and his hand and the fact that my exposed nipples were in contact with the blanket on the bed, I was in sensory overload and I came.

I lay there to see what Eric would do next. He stood up, but kept one hand on the middle of my back. I could hear him rummaging around in his bag, I guess looking for the condoms. This would have been the perfect opportunity to escape, but I was having too much fun, so I was happy to play along with the idea he could keep me in place with one hand.

The hand disappeared, but I still didn't move. I heard the sound of the condom being ripped open and waited for Eric to flip me over, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled my knickers off me then pushed my legs up so I was on my hands and knees in the bed. Oh, this was different. Eric held my hips and pushed in. Wow, that felt…deep. He started to move and it was wonderful. I looked back over my shoulder and saw him staring intently at the place where we were joined. His gaze was dark and his mouth open slightly. He caught my eye and smiled and I smiled back.

He reached around and rubbed my clit, which was incredibly sensitive. I spread my knees a bit further and started bucking back into him. I heard Eric say something, but I wasn't sure what it was. I came again and, with the realisation that it was just Eric and I around, I screamed his name as loud as I could. Eric finished just afterwards with a shout of "Fuck!" and he collapsed on the bed next to me, looking flushed from his efforts.

I smiled and stroked his face. "I liked the screaming" he said "I could hear that more often".

"Good for your ego was it?" I asked.

"You know you can stroke my ego anytime."

I giggled and he went off to dispose of the condom.

EPOV

So far the trip was going well. We'd had sex before we'd even been here an hour, so I took that as a sign. Sookie heated up frozen pizza for dinner and we drank some wine. Then she insisted on playing board games because there was no TV. Apparently it's tradition. I relented, but only on the condition that the winner of Scrabble got the sexual favour of their choosing. I was pretty confident I was getting a blow-job, but Sookie's really good at Scrabble. I wasn't that upset though. I carried her off to the tiny bed so she could claim her prize, sure that by the next night she'd be more than receptive to the news I wasn't going anywhere.

**Thanks for reading!**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N Phew! This chapter took a while to get out! But I made 200 reviews with the last chapter, so thank you all for your support.**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I woke up under a large, sweaty pile of Eric Northman. That bed was tiny and Eric's usual desire to cuddle me had turned into him sleeping pretty much on top of me. I poked him in the side "Eric, wake up!" I hissed.

"Nrgh. I am up" Eric mumbled.

"I'm not talking about Mr Happy down there. I need all of you up."

"What time is it?"

"Dunno, about six, six-thirty maybe?"

"Ugh, I'm on vacation here. You can wake me up for sex, but otherwise I'm sleeping."

"Eric! I need to pee. Get off me!"

Eric shuffled off me, and I got up and threw on his t-shirt before heading out the backdoor to the loo. I didn't hang around as it wasn't all that warm that early in the morning, given it was practically outside.

When I got back to the bedroom Eric had dozed off again, lying on his back snoring slightly. I was pretty wide awake now though, so I thought I might have a go at waking him up for sex. Well, if I couldn't sleep it seemed like a good idea.

I grabbed a condom out of his bag, shed the t-shirt again and climbed back into the bed, which was easier said than done as Eric was now hogging most of it. So I ended up lying half on him, with my chin on his chest. "E-ric" I cooed. "Waake up." He sighed and put an arm around my back, but didn't open his eyes.

I reached down and grabbed his penis. "Wake up!" I said a bit louder. His eyes shot open. "Fuck, you have cold hands!" he said. I laughed.

"You said I could wake you up for sex" I said "and look, I brought presents!" I showed him the condom.

"Fine, but you have to be on top."

I pretended to think about it. "Ummm…yeah, OK then."

About two hours later I managed to extricate myself from Eric again and have a very quick shower. There is no hanging about in a shower that's open to the elements, even though it was looking like it was going to be a nice day.

Eric stumbled out of the bedroom and wandered out to the shower naked. I was glad there was no one to see – the only close bach was all shut up so no one was there, and the hill behind was just bush.

He came back in shortly afterwards wearing a towel and grumbling about how low the roof of the lean-to was. I got out the electric frypan to make scrambled eggs for breakfast and Eric emerged again, dressed this time, and started rummaging in the kitchen. When all he could find was some rather old instant coffee he started grumbling again.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him out to the deck. "Tara said the Piha shop is all kinds of fancy now and has a cappuccino machine, so off you go." I pointed to where the shop was and sent him on his errand. Eric perked up a bit now he had something to do, and headed off.

I went back to the kitchen for a bit, and then ended up back on the deck watching Eric saunter along the road on his way to the shop. It was nice watching him from above when he couldn't see me. Maybe I could see the appeal of the stalking thing? Once he reached the store and went inside I managed to drag myself away to go back inside.

Eric was a much happier person once he had his coffee. Although he tried to tell me he was only grumpy because I'd woken him up so early to 'service' me. Yeah, his life was pretty tough.

We sat on the deck and read the paper Eric had bought at the shop. It was so peaceful here. I was starting to miss my kids though. I couldn't remember the last time I'd got so far through the Saturday paper without an interruption.

I persuaded Eric that we should go for a walk along the beach, so we shut up the bach and headed out. Eric held my hand to help me down the path and then kept hold of it after that. It was surprising how natural it felt, walking along in the sunshine holding Eric's hand.

We walked along the beach for a while, watching the surfers and the people exercising their dogs. Eric picked me up and threatened to run into the surf with me, which had me squealing and hitting his back while he just laughed at me. We paddled for a while but it was still too cold to be swimming out there in November.

The little kiosk by the beach was open, so we bought fish & chips and milkshakes and sat in the sand dunes for an impromptu picnic. Every time I looked over at Eric I couldn't help but smile, I was having a great time. This living in the present thing was really working.

After our lunch we sat on the beach for a bit longer, and I started pushing the sand around. At this time of year it wasn't too hot, even in the middle of the day. In summer the black sand could be unbearable. After a while I realised I was piling sand up, almost like a sandcastle. I almost wished Amelia was here to help with it. Eric looked at what I was doing "Amelia would have loved this" he said. "Yep" I agreed.

I started to decorate my rather shapeless castle with shells and bits of driftwood. I was bending over, engrossed in my task, when Eric started to run one of his fingers along the strip of my lower back that was exposed by my t-shirt riding up. Just like the first night we'd slept together, there was something about Eric touching me there that made me shiver all over.

He must have noticed me shivering because he asked if I was cold. "No" I replied, "it's just that when you touch me there it makes me feel all, um, squidgy."

"Is squidgy even a word?"

"Yep, it definitely is."

"Well you're the expert at Scrabble, so I'll believe you."

However there are some things you probably shouldn't share with Eric because he went back to running his fingers along my back, and then progressed to kissing the skin there. He started with rather chaste kisses, but soon was placing open mouthed kisses which were causing a rather distracting throb between my legs.

I gave up on my efforts to create something in the sand. "Let's go back to the bach" I suggested.

"About fucking time"

We practically sprinted back past the camping ground and up the hill, and Eric was trying to undress me before I even got the door to the bach open. It seemed like no time at all before we were lying back on the bed, both naked and I was feeling even squidgier than before. In fact I was feeling downright impatient; I wanted an orgasm and I wanted it now. I grabbed Eric's shoulders in an effort to pull him on top of me, but he had other ideas.

"Sookie" he said "you remember the game where you told me what you want?"

I looked at him and nodded; slightly worried he might want me to do that again.

"Can I tell you what I want?"

"OK" I figured this would be interesting.

Eric kissed me and then whispered in my ear "I want to see you touch yourself."

Yeah that was interesting. "Um" I said, trying to work out how to let him down gently, "no, no I don't think I can do that. Sorry."

"Why not?"

"I'd be far too self-conscious, I just couldn't enjoy it."

"But why would you be self-conscious? There's only me here. And I can guarantee I'll enjoy watching you." He lent down so he was close to my face again "I might enjoy it so much that I'd be tempted to do the same thing."

Ohhh. Was I supposed to be turned on by that? Because it sounded pretty hot. "I don't know…" I said, wavering.

"Just, let yourself go, Sookie. Trust me. I just want to watch you give yourself pleasure. There's nothing wrong with that." He kissed down the side of my neck and across my collar-bone.

"Can I close my eyes?"

Eric sighed. "Well if you absolutely have to, but trust me, it will be better with your eyes open." I didn't think so, I liked the whole 'I can't see him so he can't see me' idea.

Eric lay next to me propped on his elbow, watching expectantly. I wasn't really sure what to do. My over-riding impulse was to chicken out. "I don't think I can" I said.

"Yes, you can. Look, I'll help".

Eric reached over and took one of my hands and brought it down between my legs. "Just do what feels good."

He placed my fingertips against my clit and started to move them in a circular motion. That did feel good. Eric moved his hand away and I shut my eyes tight and continued to move my hand. I was still really keen on having that orgasm if I did have to do it myself.

I started to roll my hips into my hand. I could hear Eric breathing hard next to me, but no way was I looking at him. The tension started to build and I moved my hand and hips faster.

My breathing was laboured and I could feel the moisture seeping against my hand. I inserted a finger and moved it in and out. I was so close.

Then I heard Eric groan and remembered that I had an audience. I opened one eye and dared to look at him. He was staring intently at what my hand was doing. One of his hands was busy stroking himself forcefully. Oh, now I could see what he wanted. He looked up to where my breasts were rising and falling, and realised I'd opened my eyes. He smiled and said "there you are". I smiled back but I couldn't really talk. I think I moaned instead.

I turned so my face was half-buried in his shoulder and I came. Eric had slowed his own movements down, and kissed me. "Fuck that was hot, Sookie" he said. We were both breathing hard.

"Yeah, that was…something. But do you know what I want now?"

"What?"

"I want you to go and get a condom and fuck me until I scream your name again."

"That is a fucking awesome plan."

EPOV

Despite the fact the place we were staying in had a miniscule bed and a shitty bathroom in a shack; I was fucking loving vacationing with Sookie. And it wasn't just the sex, although that was pretty fantastic. I was discovering that with a bit of persuasion Sookie could be hotter than even fantasy-Sookie had ever managed to be. I was enjoying just hanging out with Sookie. I'd never been a guy who'd been into talking long walks on the beach and all that shit. Hell, I was never really into keeping a woman around long enough to have breakfast with her. But it was different with Sookie. With her I felt great, and I wanted to make her feel great in return.

So I was hoping that all the sex had put her in a good mood and she was going to be really pleased when I told her my news that evening. I figured that we'd have some wine and I'd tell her I wasn't leaving, and then there'd be more sex.

We managed to peel ourselves out of bed and Sookie made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. We ate those and then sat on the deck with our wine and watched the sun set. It was pretty special here, if you weren't climbing that stupid fucking rock which in no way resembled a lion.

I was thinking about what I was going to say when Sookie's cellphone started ringing. "Shit" she said "I hope that's not Tara about the kids."

She took off to answer it and I could hear her inside talking rather resignedly to someone. When she came back she was pissed. "Fucking Comptons and their half-arsed plans!" she exclaimed.

"What happened?" I asked.

She took a large sip of wine. "Well, Caroline...one of Bill's sisters…isn't coming back for Christmas. She lives in Sydney, lucky her. But she is, apparently, here in Auckland for a few days at the moment. So we have been summoned to a Compton family gathering tomorrow afternoon. Ugh. I could soooo do without going."

"Well, then don't go."

"I can't not go. It's the only chance for the kids to see Caroline before Christmas and she is their aunt. The problem is my kids are related to the whole lot of them. We have to go. It's just going to be horrible – god knows what Lorena has been saying about me since she saw you."

Fucking Lorena. I'd kill her if she upset Sookie.

"If they're going to upset you don't go."

"I have to go." Fuck, she was stubborn. And intent on punishing herself it seemed.

"Fine, then we'll go."

Sookie turned to look at me. "You don't have to go."

I shrugged. "What else do I have to do? And I don't like the idea of you going there alone if they're going to upset you."

"I can fight my own battles with Lorena, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. But this way if no one else is talking to you, you can still talk to me." I smiled at her, hoping to break her out of her foul mood.

She smiled back. "Well, OK. If you really want to come, you can come. Just be thankful it's being held at Judith's place, if Sarah was putting it on then we'd have to drive half-way back to Piha again. I just wish that for once they'd arrange these things ahead of time. And consult me about stuff. I get so sick of just being at everyone else's beck and call." Sookie obviously decided that her rant was finished, as she went back to slowly sipping her wine and staring at the sunset.

I stared at her. She was so lovely. But I wasn't sure whether or not I was included in the 'everyone else' who she seemed to think was running her life. Fuck, would she be pissed at me if I said I wanted to stay? She hadn't exactly thrown me out, so maybe I'd just lie low until we'd got over this, whatever-it-was with the Comptons. Yeah, I thought, that was probably best. Tonight I'd just concentrate on getting Sookie's mind off those horrible people and back on all the fun things she could do with me.

SPOV

We were both quiet for a while after the phone call from Judith. She'd been really apologetic about the late notice, and normally it wouldn't have mattered. I mean, I didn't usually have much to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Except that at the moment at least, I had Eric. I wanted to spend my time with him. And I wanted to stay away from the Comptons while he was here. It was pretty certain they would all be thinking I was some kind of slut by now, given that Lorena knew about Eric. I didn't need that, not in my nice happy present I was trying to live in. After the next week or so they'd have eternity to torture me with it, and I could face it then.

Eric wanted to come with me though, God help him. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. I guess it was his chance to observe an extended New Zealand family up close, but I'm not sure that the Comptons were his best choice for a fun event. I just hoped having him there didn't make things worse.

So I sat on the deck and fumed silently, but after a while the wine and the sunset and the fact that Eric was holding my hand and stroking my arm all did their bit to calm me down. Eric tried to get me to sit on his lap, but I pointed out that the old deck chairs we were sitting on would collapse under the weight of both of us.

He went into the house and came back with some old foam mattresses and a sort of picnic rug to put over them. So we laid those out on the deck and that was much better, now I could lean into his side and just watch the night sky. After a while I started to get a bit cold though, and Eric went inside to get a blanket to put around us.

EPOV

Sookie was really quiet after her initial tirade against the Compton's had finished. She just stared out at the sky, even after we were sitting together on the foam pads I'd found. I hoped that sex on the deck might distract her because once I thought of that idea it pretty much stopped me from concentrating on anything else.

So when I went inside to get the blanket to put around us, I took off my shorts and boxers and left them in the bedroom. I grabbed a condom from my bag and wrapped the blanket around myself like a cape. Making sure I turned off the lights in the bach, I went back out to the deck. I sat behind Sookie and got her to lean back against my chest and I put the blanket around the two of us.

She figured something was up, so to speak, pretty quickly. Her hand trailed up my thigh until it came in contact with my balls, and then she withdrew it.

"Eric" she said "What happened to your pants?"

I sniggered. "I took them off."

"Why?"

"Because I want to have sex with you. On the deck. Now."

She turned to face me. "I'm not having sex out here where everyone can see us."

"No one can see us, Sookie. I turned the lights off, there's no one in the place next door and anyone down there" I made a sweeping gesture with my arm which encompassed the road, the camping ground, the houses and the beach "would have to be staring at us through a telescope to really make out what we were doing. Come on, it will be fun."

I could almost hear the wheels turning in her brain, so I gave her a minute to mull it over, although I did spend that minute nuzzling her neck and running my hand over one of her breasts.

"I don't know…" Sookie began.

"Come on" I whispered into her ear.

"Well…" things were looking promising as she had now reached back with her hand and was stroking my cock. "How would we do it?"

"First you take off your jeans and panties." She stopped stroking me and wriggled out of her clothes. Once she'd discarded them I reached around and felt between her folds. Fuck, she was wet already. She was more into this than I realised.

I rubbed her clit and she resumed stroking me and we sat like that for a minute or two. I reached over and grabbed the condom I'd brought out and managed to get it open and on by feel alone.

"OK" I said to Sookie "Now you turn around and lower yourself onto me. I'll keep hold of the blanket so it covers us."

Sookie followed my instructions. Fuck that felt right. Everything felt right when I was inside her. I hoped she realised that.

"Oh, Eric. I love it when you're inside me." Sookie whispered as she began to roll her hips. Oh fuck yes; we were on the same page with this.

Sookie started to rise and fall with more determination. "Take off your shirt" she whispered to me. I complied. To my surprise Sookie stripped off her shirt as well, followed by her bra. The blanket covered us from the waist down, but our upper bodies were exposed to the chilled night air. She pressed her very hard nipples into my chest. "That's so much better" she murmured. It was, it really was.

The excitement of doing this outside, and the added knowledge that Sookie was into the bit of exhibitionism, was starting to push me towards coming. "Sookie" I said "Sookie, I'm really close." I reached down and touched her clit.

"Oh, me too, Eric." She buried her face in my neck and I felt her start to clamp down on my cock as she came. "Oh fuck" I said as I joined her in the moment.

We sat there for a bit, still joined. Sookie looked up at me and I could see her face in the moonlight. She was smiling. That was better. "You were right" she said "that was really…amazing."

"Sookie, it's always amazing with you." She looked like she wanted to say something else, but didn't.

"Bed?' I asked.

"Bed" she said.

**Yeah, I know. Everyone wants him to say something to her. But he's easily distracted.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N Thank you, thank you for all the reviews! Sorry if I didn't reply to you, but I do appreciate them. We're into the final stretch now, but there are major speed-bumps ahead!**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I woke up early on the Sunday morning feeling sad and empty, despite the fact Eric was half-crushing me again. I wriggled out from under him and went out to the loo. It wasn't fair, I didn't want to go.

When I got back to the bed, Eric had stirred and greeted me with a kiss. "So, were you going to wake me up? Because I could pretend to be asleep again?" He looked so hopeful; it managed to banish some of the gloom that was settling over me. He lay back and made some exaggerated snoring noises. I kissed down his chest and stomach, but when I looked back at him he'd opened his eyes.

"Well, if you're not asleep, I guess there's no point waking you up…" I said. He grabbed me and pinned me to the bed, both of us laughing. Yeah, I was feeling better.

It didn't last though. Afterwards I lay with my head on Eric's chest for a while, and then got up to take a shower. Leaving here was just a huge sign that everything was coming to an end, and Eric was going. I had promised myself I wouldn't cry while Eric was still here, but I couldn't help it. I cried in the shower where I was alone.

EPOV

I hated that Sookie was so fucking upset about having to see her in-laws. I didn't know what to do to make it better. The water pressure in this place was pretty pathetic, so I could hear her crying in the shower even though she thought she was hiding it. Fuck. When she came out I just hugged her for a long time and we didn't say anything.

After that we were busy packing everything up and getting ready for the drive back. Sookie was still terribly quiet. On the drive home I tried to get her talk a bit more, but she remained withdrawn. Even when I drifted the car towards the centre line she could barely be bothered to tell me to stay on the left.

We made it back to Tara's place by late morning and there was now a complete air of dread and misery in the car. Fuck. I really wanted to tell her we weren't going to the Comptons, but I knew she'd never back down on it. All I could do was tag along and try to keep her safe.

SPOV

I knew I'd been morose all morning, but I couldn't help it. My little bubble of happiness was bursting and it hurt like hell. It was great to see the kids again though. Felicia squealed and smiled and Amelia ran with hugs and kisses for both Eric and I. She wanted Eric to push her on the swing out the back for a while, so they went off to do that.

I handed the keys for the bach back to Tara "Thanks for the bach" I said "It was lovely. Eric really enjoyed himself."

"Did you?"

"Yeah, it was great" I said off-handedly.

"So…what happens now?"

"What do you meant?"

"Well, you like him, he seems really into you by the way he was staring at you, and he seems to really get on with Amelia. Soooo, are you going to keep seeing him?"

"Tara, I can't. He's going back to the States."

"Well people make it work. When's he going back?"

"Um, don't know exactly. But it must be soon."

"He doesn't seem to be rushing back there. Maybe you should ask him to stay?"

"No. No, that wouldn't be fair to him. He has a life over there and needs to get back to it."

"Are you sure? I mean, have you actually talked to him about this?"

"Tara I know. He's got years ahead of him to find a nice girl, get married, and have kids. He's not going to stick around here with me and my kids."

"Well, I think you're an idiot if you don't at least find out what he wants…" Just then Amelia and Eric arrived back and I dragged him off to help me put the carseats back in the car.

We got back home and I stomped around for a bit feeling miserable. To really add to anything I'd finally placed the backache I'd been feeling since this morning. I thought maybe I'd done something during sex, but I suddenly realised that it was cramps. My period was due at any minute. I hadn't had that many since I'd had Felicia so they tended to still take me by surprise. Terrific, that was all I needed, extra reason to be tearful and grumpy.

Eric sort of kept out of my way while I was like this, but I'd catch him looking at me with sympathy. I bit my tongue so I didn't yell "Fuck off this is all your fault!" at him like I really wanted to. I wasn't sure how, but I'd somehow gone from enjoying every moment I had left with him, to almost wanting him to leave this minute so the misery wouldn't be prolonged any further.

And speaking of misery, about 3pm we headed off to Judith and Calvin's for the barbecue for Caroline. Amelia was all excited at the prospect of a party; she loved any kind of gathering. I just wanted to get it over with.

I parked the car on the street and took a deep breath. Eric leant over and kissed me softly. "Hey" he said "it will be fine. I'm here." I nodded, but thought to myself that he couldn't protect me from them forever.

At first it was actually OK, well as OK as any of these things ever are. Portia wasn't there yet, and neither was Sarah, even though she'd been told it started at 2pm due to her chronic inability to arrive anywhere on time. Judith was busy getting food organised so said hello and took off. Calvin was starting to get the barbecue ready and managed to co-opt Eric into helping him. Amelia went off to boss Jessica around. I said hello briefly to Lorena, then had a catch-up with Caroline, about her job and what she'd been doing in Sydney since I last saw her.

So the first hour went by as best as can be expected. I kept an eye on Eric, who came to talk to me occasionally, but spent a lot of time playing with Jessica and Amelia and who seemed to have been put in charge of providing drinks by Calvin. I helped Judith in the kitchen for a bit.

"So Eric's still here then?" she asked.

"Yep, for a bit anyway."

She looked thoughtful. "He seems nice, quite good with the kids."

"Yeah I guess."

"So, are you going to keep seeing him?"

"Well, I don't see that I can, given he's going back to the States."

"Oh, well that's a shame. I think it would have been...lovely for you to have someone." She turned to face me "I'm sorry I gave you a hard time last week. It's just weird to think of you with someone else. But you know, it's surprisingly not weird to see you with Eric. He kind of…fits with you or something." She turned back to chopping up tomatoes.

I snorted. "No, he doesn't. He fits with some American woman who looks like a supermodel."

Judith looked sideways at me "I don't think so" she said.

I huffed. Whatever. "I'm just going to check on the kids" I said.

Before long Portia and Glen, and Sarah and her brood had arrived. The place was now pretty jammed. As usual I had ended up watching the kids while Portia annoyed people and Sarah had a smoke. One of them tipped over some juice and I went into the kitchen in search of a cloth. As I got near the door I could hear Lorena say "I think she's making a huge mistake letting him near the children. They've only just lost their dad and now she's moved some fancy man in with them." Oh god, here it was. They were talking about me. I stopped in my tracks.

"I think he's very nice". That was Caroline's voice. She never did like to agree with her mother.

"We should give him the benefit of the doubt…" said Sarah, who was far too wishy-washy to hold any real opinions on anything.

"Pfft" said Lorena. "He's _American_. They're all the same. After one thing."

"Mum!" said Caroline "the Second World War finished a long time ago. I don't think we have Americans roaming the streets of Auckland looking for a good time anymore."

Portia decided to weigh in. "It's not right. He's not been dead a year. Poor Bill up in heaven watching her carry on like that. Think of the example she's setting for her children."

"She's a fool is what is she is" said Lorena, obviously warming to her topic now "He'll probably run off with her money. All the money that Bill worked so hard for will disappear off with Sookie's fancy man."

I'd had enough. Fighting back the tears I went back out into the garden, but then I remembered why I'd gone inside in the first place, and I grabbed some napkins off the picnic table and went to mop up juice. Judith was there with the kids and gave me a sympathetic look. "Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yep. Fine."

She looked at me. I'm pretty sure she knew what was up. They were her family after all.

I just wanted to go home. I went in search of Eric. He was talking to Caroline who had obviously had enough of Lorena. And it was pretty obvious that she did indeed think Eric was 'nice'. She had her head thrown back, laughing at something he'd said and her hand was on his arm. Shit. Caroline looked all…glossy. Expensive clothes, nice shoes. Not only did she own hair-straighteners, she knew how to use them. She might have been the same age as me, but she wasn't worn down by kids and a useless as fuck husband. She and Eric looked like a pair.

Amelia went up to them and climbed on Eric's lap. That was worse somehow. Amelia and Caroline had the same green eyes. Caroline's expensive gold highlights matched the lighter bits of hair Amelia had courtesy of her hours in the sandpit. The three of them looked like a family, a really pretty family like you see in insurance brochures. The kind of family Eric would have in a few years back in the States.

I walked off, fighting back the tears. I rescued Felicia from where she'd been placed and grabbed my handbag. I put Felicia in her carseat and put the window down for her.

I went back to Eric who was by himself now. He smiled at me. "Hey" he said.

"Yeah. We have to go. Now."

"Sookie are you OK?"

"Fine" I snapped. "Let's just get Amelia and go. Felicia's in the car already."

I went stalking off to where Amelia was back playing. "Amelia we're going." I said.

"No."

"There's no 'no'. We're going. Now. Say goodbye to Jessica."

"I don't want to."

"Tough. We're going."

"I DON'T WANT TO!"

I was starting to get desperate; I really didn't want to be arguing with Amelia here. I wanted to be running off home to lick my wounds.

"Amelia!" I hissed "Will you just do as you are told for once!"

"NO! And you can't make me!"

"I am your mother and you will do what I say!" I was starting to get hysterical. Why was she being so difficult? I wanted to scream and cry and run away.

EPOV

Whatever had happened to Sookie was bad, really bad. She was losing it and Amelia wasn't helping one bit. The pair of them were so stubborn that this wasn't going to end well. I realised I'd have to step in.

"Sookie" I said.

"What?" she snapped.

"I'll get Amelia, you go to the car." She just looked at me and then she said "Fine. Yeah, you do that Eric. Whatever you fucking want" and she stormed off to the car. I couldn't figure out why she was pissed with me now, but maybe I was just collateral damage.

I turned back to Amelia. "We have to go now Amelia".

"I'm not going."

Yeah, she was stubborn. I tried to think what Sookie would do in these situations, when she was more in control. "Well, I need to get your mom home as she's not, um, feeling well, but I need your help."

"Help with what?"

"Well, I might need you to give me directions."

Amelia looked at me, unsure. I went on "And there would be a marshmallow for you if you could do that for me."

"Two marshmallows?"

"OK, but you have to go straight to the car now."

"OK"

Amelia trotted off to the car. Now all I had to do was get everyone home and calm Sookie down.

Sookie fumed all the way back to her place, and kept silent as we unloaded the kids and she put Felicia in the high chair ready for her dinner.

"So…" I ventured, as she was clattering about in the kitchen "What happened there?"

"Don't want to talk about it."

"Come on, Sookie. You can tell me."

"What's the point Eric? What's the fucking point? You can't fix everything. You're not here forever."

I wasn't? What was she trying to tell me?

"I just hate to see you like this is all."

"Yeah, well, get used to it. Or rather, don't get used to it. You'll probably never have to see me like this again."

This just didn't feel right. "Sookie…" I began.

"Don't Eric, just don't. I can't do this anymore." She turned away from me to fix Felicia's dinner.

Suddenly, it dawned on me. This was it. She was leaving me. Or rather, she was kicking me out, since it was her house, but it amounted to the same thing. Those fucking Comptons had turned her somehow and now she didn't want me. Well, fuck her. If she was going to throw me out, I was going to leave first.

"Fine, Sookie. We won't do _anything_." I hissed. I grabbed the keys to the rental car and walked out. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I got in and headed towards the city. I got as far as the Mt Eden village though. There were bars there. And I fucking needed a drink so badly. I parked the car in a side-street and headed into the first one I saw.

SPOV

I couldn't believe Eric had stormed off like that. I was so mad at him. And to top it all off he'd upset Amelia in the process. That was all she needed; another guy leaving in a flurry of angry words and slammed doors. I didn't know if she remembered the final scene with Bill, but I was pretty sure that it was buried in there somewhere.

She spent the rest of the night asking when he would be back and I kept fudging the truth. At bedtime though I had to tell her he probably wasn't coming back, that he had to go back to his home now.

"But he didn't say goodbye!" she wailed.

"I know sweetheart, but he just didn't get a chance. He was, um, sad to leave you though."

"He said he wouldn't leave me!" Fucking Eric Northman! What was he playing at?

"Oh, sweetheart. He didn't want to but he had no choice."

"Yes he did. You made him go away. Nana said you made Daddy go away as well." I was going to murder Lorena one day. Everything she said was poison.

"No one can make someone else leave Amelia. Not me, not you. Daddy and Eric left because they had to. I'm sad that Eric left too. But we'll be OK, you, me and Felicia. We still have each other."

"I want Eric!"

"I know sweetheart." And I sat there and rubbed her small back while she snuffled into the pillow for a while, before falling asleep. Right now I could kill Eric. I had known Amelia would have to say goodbye to him, but I'd hoped for a nice goodbye that I could prepare her for, so she'd have good memories of him. Not this. And though he'd have to come back at some stage for his stuff I couldn't risk her seeing him again, so this was it for her. She'd always think that I made Eric leave her.

EPOV

The bourbon helped a bit, but I felt like shit. I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong? And then I started to wonder if maybe it wasn't me at all? I was going round in circles and it felt fucking horrible.

I just didn't know what Sookie wanted from me. I'd tried so fucking hard. I just wanted her to want me back, why didn't she want me?

And then I remembered something from when I'd found her crying in bed. She'd said Bill hadn't chosen her. Fuck, I'd more than chosen her. Maybe she didn't realise it though?

So I paid up at the bar and headed out. I couldn't risk driving so I ran down Mt Eden Road as fast as I could, down Sookie's street and up to her front door. I couldn't remember if I still had her spare key, and I didn't know if it was a good idea to let myself in anyway, so I banged on the door "Sookie!" I called "Sookie!"

She opened the door "What now, Eric?" Oh yeah, she was pissed at me. I took a deep breath. "I choose you Sookie. I choose you and the kids. You said, you said that Bill didn't, but I do. I choose you."

She looked me up and down. "No you didn't Eric. You chose to go out and get drunk and now you're back here because you've nowhere else to go. Or you're _lonely_. Or _horny_. Or all of the above. But it has very little to do with choosing me."

Fuck. This wasn't going well at all.

"But, Sookie…" she cut me off. "I can't be bothered with this Eric. You had to go sometime. It might as well be now."

"I don't…where can I go?"

She looked past me. "You've left the car somewhere? Fuck Eric, you're useless. You can sleep on the couch, or in the spare room, I don't care. In the morning you can just fuck off. And don't let Amelia see you. You've already broken her heart. Goodnight."

She turned away and stalked off to her bedroom, leaving me still standing in the open doorway. I felt a tear slide down my cheek and realised that for the first time since I was 7 years old, I was crying because a woman didn't want me anymore.

**I know! I gave Eric to Sookie and she broke him! I'm just surprised that no one in their reviews picked up on the fact that a guy who binge-drinks when he's upset or confused and a woman who had a drug-addict husband might not be a good combination. Hmmm. But he's still there, so I guess there's always hope. Maybe he'll even have a plan.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine**

SPOV

I left Eric standing in the door and went off to bed. The weird thing was I didn't cry. I'd cried so much in the last year or so that I just didn't have any tears left. Not for this.

I didn't sleep much though, and at about 5am I gave up altogether. I got up and did a quick look around the house to see where Eric had ended up. He was on the bed in the study, he'd obviously just pulled off the coversheet that was still on it and was lying on the bare mattress, covered by the furry rug from the living room. I shut the door and went off to the shower.

The anger I'd felt yesterday had mostly gone now. I just felt sad. And empty. But I'd known the minute I let Eric stay here that I was heading for sadness at some point, so today it was then.

Amelia was obviously feeling the same way. Although she didn't mention Eric when she got up she was quite subdued. I hated that she had to deal with this and it was my fault.

I needed to keep her and Eric apart though. I rang Halleigh from next door and called in a favour. I said that I needed to put another coat of paint on the spare room and could she watch Amelia while I did it? Halleigh agreed, and even offered to take Felicia as well, saying she needed the practice with mixing pre-schoolers and babies. So I packed the kids off next door and set to cleaning the kitchen, waiting for Eric to rise. After a while I heard the sounds of him shuffling around in the spare room.

EPOV

I'd had a fucking shitty night on that horrible bed. I'd heard Sookie start wandering around at some ungodly hour of the morning but I'd just pretended to be asleep. I wasn't ready to face her yet. I needed to figure out what I was going to do next.

I must have dozed off after that, because the next thing I knew the sun was bursting through the thin curtains. The house was eerily quiet though; maybe Sookie had taken the kids and gone out so she wouldn't have to see me again. I hoped not, I really wanted to at least have the opportunity to apologise.

I had realised something though. I'd spent my whole life trying to avoid this happening, trying to prevent anyone from rejecting me by remaining detached. And then Sookie rejected me. And it fucking hurt like hell, and I still wasn't sure what had happened. But it hadn't killed me. I was still here. Shit, if anyone could show me that you could survive all kinds of fucked-up shit it was Sookie; she still got up every morning and looked after her kids and was kind and funny and loving, even after all the crap that fucker Bill had put her through. So if she could do it, I could too.

I went out into the kitchen and there she was, wiping down the benches. It took her a moment to look up at me, and I could almost see her steeling herself before she did so. "Hi" she said.

"Hi" I replied, not sure what was going to happen next. I hoped it wasn't going to be her yelling at me. "Um, where's everyone else?" I remembered I was supposed to stay away from Amelia.

"Oh, next door with Halleigh. As I said, I don't want Amelia to see you again." I nodded; there wasn't much I could do about that.

"So, Eric" Sookie started, "I, um, I want to apologise for being a bit over the top yesterday afternoon. Let's just say I heard Lorena say some stuff that wasn't the best. So I realise I was a bit shitty with you. But, I think we both knew that this was coming to an end sometime, and you running off like that brought home that it should probably end now. So let's just be civil, OK?"

I nodded again. Sookie continued on "Right, well have a shower, and grab your stuff and I'll run you back to your car."

"Um, OK." Sookie went back to her cleaning and I guess I was dismissed. I headed off to the shower to think over what Sookie had said. I felt angry at that bitch Lorena, and I really wanted to pin the whole fucking disaster on her, but I was pretty sure I was to blame for some of it. Sookie had just looked so defeated when she was talking to me. I hated that I'd done that. I just wasn't entirely sure how I'd fucked up. OK, so she didn't like that drinking, but I came back? And I told her that I chose her? What more did she want? I didn't know.

When I'd showered and dressed and packed up all my stuff and I went back to the kitchen where Sookie was now re-arranging things in a cupboard. She gave me a weak smile. "Um, do you want anything to eat before you go?" she asked, obviously determined to be a good hostess to the bitter end.

"I could use some coffee, but I'll make it" I said stepping over to the coffeemaker. "Do you want some?"

"Oh, OK, sure. If you're making it."

I made the coffee and Sookie moved things around, both of us silent. Still saying nothing I carried the two cups over to the table and sat down. Sookie joined me. She stared down at her cup and refused to make eye contact. It was pretty obvious she didn't want to talk to me, but there was something I had to know.

"Sookie?"

"Mmm?"

"Um, I just want to know…well…um, OK. So I don't have the best track-record with women, and this is the first time that I can remember that I actually tried to make a relationship work…"

Sookie cut me off "This wasn't a relationship, Eric."

"That's bullshit, Sookie and you know it!" Fuck, that came out harsher than I intended. Sookie blinked a few times, and looked down. I tried again, softer this time "I mean, you wouldn't have let me stay here, with your kids, and let me, I don't know, be part of your life, if it was just a stupid fling, would you? Be honest."

Sookie was silent for a while, and then she nodded. "Yeah, I guess so."

"So what I want to know is what the fuck happened?"

"Oh, Eric! I've already said it. You stormed out and went drinking. I can't be bothered with that. Not when this _relationship_ has an expiration date anyway. I just want to cut my losses now and have it over with."

"So, you don't want me around forever. Fine. Did you ever really want me at all, Sookie?" The words were out of my mouth before I realised I wasn't sure I actually wanted the answer. Not out loud, anyway. I wanted to take her in the bedroom and make her show me she wanted me, but maybe that didn't work as well as I thought it did. Maybe I'd misread her completely all this time.

"Oh, of course I did Eric. What's not to want? You're good-looking and you're good in bed. Happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear? That I couldn't help myself when I'm around you?" Sookie's eyes were flashing with anger.

"Really, Sookie? That's all I was to you? Just someone to fuck?" I was feeling pretty angry now too. So much for being civil.

Sookie stood up and walked out of the room. I stayed put. Fuck this was a mess from start to finish.

After five minutes or so Sookie reappeared and sat down again. "OK" she said "I thought about it, and OK, if you really want to know, then yes, there's a lot of other stuff I like about you too."

"Really?" I asked, probably way too eagerly.

She smiled at me. Fuck I loved that smile. "Yeah, Eric. I like the way you make me coffee in the mornings. I like the way you let Amelia boss you around even though she's 3 and barely comes up to your knees. I like the way you watch Felicia crawl, as if you can't figure out how something that small could possibly move. I like the way you always want to pick stuff up for me, even if you have shoulder-barge me out of the way first to get to it. I like the fact that you come and move furniture for me at 3am when I have to catch a rat, even though you're quite clearly terrified of the thing. I like the way you sleep half on top of me, like you're scared I might creep away in the night. I like the way you let me talk about my kids as if it's the most interesting thing in the world. I like the way you talk me into trying stuff in bed, actually, scratch that, I like everything we do in bed. I like you Eric. But I hate the running away and drinking. And I hate that I have to let you go, but it's for the best."

She stood up and took her empty coffee cup back to the kitchen. Fuck. That was a bit of a revelation. I felt like I should say something too, I just wasn't sure I could be as eloquent as Sookie. "Sookie" I said so she'd look up at me. She stopped what she was doing and just looked at me. OK this was it.

"Sookie, I just, fuck. You're amazing Sookie. You're kind and you're funny. You're brave. You're a fucking awesome mother. You put up with those shitty in-laws of yours. You're so strong. And, of course, you're fuck-hot." I was pretty pleased with that. Sookie started chuckling to herself though. "What?" I asked.

"Oh, Eric. It's very sweet of you. I guess I should have listed that as well 'I like that you have an extremely skewed view of me and it's good for my ego'. But I already slept with you, so I guess you can stop now."

"Stop what?"

"Flattering me."

"But I meant it Sookie. Why don't you see that I do?"

"Because….because it's just not realistic is all. In case you hadn't noticed I'm 34 years old, I have two kids, I have a whole messy history with someone else. I'm not a prize Eric."

I sighed, feeling exasperated. I didn't know how to fucking get through to her. I guessed this was part of the problem the previous night. She would never let herself believe I'd chosen her. Then something occurred to me.

"Sookie, why do you think I'm such a fucking great catch?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you keep saying I could never really want you, as if, I don't know, I'm somehow better than you. But really, why? Because I'm pretty sure I'm as fucked-up as anyone here."

Sookie pressed her lips together. "It's not that Eric, it's just that you're young still. When I was your age I got married and was looking forward to having this house and the kids and, everything. I just think you should have that too. Find someone, and I don't know, start a life together. And anyway, you said you never really wanted kids. Why would you want someone else's kids?"

I thought about it for a minute. "I guess I said I never thought about having kids because I never thought I'd have a family, or I don't know, even people who cared about me. My parents were downright shitty. I just couldn't imagine ever having anything better. And the risk that it would all go wrong was too great." I stopped for minute, but Sookie didn't say anything so I continued. "So, um, really if I did have a chance to have that, to have people who cared about me, why would I give a fuck where they came from? I might be fucked-up but I'm not a complete fucking retard!" Sookie laughed at that. Then she came to sit opposite me again.

"Well, OK. I guess that cleared the air then. So we do really like each other. It could be worse." She smiled at me, and I smiled back. "But now I think it's time for you to go, while we're ending on such a positive note." She stood up. "Do you want to go and get your things?"

No, no I fucking didn't want to. "Sookie… can you not just, can you please just give me a chance?"

"Chance for what, Eric?"

"To, try this, this relationship thing. To try really hard not to be a fuck-up anymore."

"Oh, Eric. I'm just not sure I have the energy to prolong this for what, a week? Two weeks? And then you go back to the States and it didn't matter anyway."

Oh, right. She didn't know about that part of the plan. Fuck. I wasn't sure about springing it on her now, but I didn't really have a choice. "Well, I'm not exactly in a rush to get back you know, there's not a lot for me over there."

"But your job? You'll need to go back to that."

"Um, I don't really have that job anymore…"

"Shit, Eric. Did you get fired for spending too long over here?"

"No, no. I quit. I said before that I wasn't enjoying it anymore. Honestly Sookie, when I think back what it was like, it was all pretty boring really. I haven't been bored since I got here." I gestured round her house.

"Oh. Wow. Were you going to tell me that you'd quit?"

"Yeah, I just, um hadn't found the right time…" I trailed off, and waited for Sookie's reaction. She was thinking hard about something, and sat back down again frowning. There was nothing I could do now but wait and see what her verdict was.

"So" she began "you quit? To stay here?"

"Yeah, I like it here."

"To stay here, with me?"

"Well, yeah. I hoped that was what would happen. Like I said, I really tried with this relationship. I really didn't want to fuck it all up."

"Yeah, OK. Um. So, OK. Look, I'm sorry this is just a lot to take in right now. I thought that you were going back. I mean, I always knew that this would end. And now you say this and I don't know what to think anymore. I need time to think about it all."

"OK"

"Sooo, maybe if you go for a walk and get your car, and then come back and I'll have a think in the meantime."

"Yeah, that could work I guess."

"Great".

I wanted to kiss her goodbye, or hug her, or something, but she disappeared into her room. I headed out to retrieve the car and then come back to find out my fate.

SPOV

The whole conversation with Eric had been intense. Bizarre at times, but intense all the same. I just couldn't get my head around the fact he'd spent all this time thinking we were going somewhere, when I'd been trying to figure out how to say goodbye. We'd completely missed the other's signals somehow. Was that a sign that we were doomed to fail? I'd obviously missed some pretty big signals from Bill; maybe I was the fuck-up who couldn't manage a relationship?

I went and sat outside on the deck while Eric was off getting his car. I knew he'd be looking for some sort of answer when he got back and I hadn't a clue what to say. It was a risk. It was a huge risk. And it wasn't just my happiness I was risking. I'd had to watch my daughter cry herself to sleep the night before and I never, ever, ever wanted to do that again. Not because someone I'd trusted had let her down anyway, she had years yet to suffer heartbreaks all of her own making.

And then there was the drinking. Could he stop if I asked him to? I couldn't face another guy using substances to escape me. What would happen in a year if Eric got bored? Five years? Ten? Was I being selfish and cheating him out of a future with someone else?

I thought about how great the last couple of weeks with Eric had been. And then I thought about all the things I would miss if he wasn't here, everything I'd told him I liked and more. Shit. Why wasn't this clear-cut?

I went round and round in my head, getting nowhere fast. I heard Eric come back in the door and I still hadn't really made any decisions. He sat down next to me. I kept staring straight ahead.

"So?" he asked. I looked at him. That helped. It was Eric and despite everything I felt better when he was here than when he wasn't. I still wasn't sure what to say though.

"Sookie, do you trust me? Trust me to try to make this work?"

"I want to, I really do. It's just…not easy. To trust anyone, not just you."

He put his arm around me, and I leant into his side. I always felt so safe when he held me. Maybe I was stupid, but somewhere in there I did trust him.

"But I think maybe I could trust you. If I could trust anyone, it would be you, Eric." I looked at him and he was grinning at me.

"So, we're doing this?" he asked.

"Yeah. But I, um, I have a condition." I pulled away so I could look him in the eye. "If we're doing this…relationship thing, or whatever it is, then I need you to do something for me, but you're probably not going to like it."

"I'll do anything for you."

"Yeah, yeah. I need you to…do something about the drinking. Get help. Talk to someone. I don't know. I just know I can't fix you any more than I could fix Bill. And I don't want to risk everything again if I know you're drinking to solve all your problems. Because I can tell you now that it won't help."

Eric went a bit quiet and looked down. I wasn't sure if he felt insulted or not. But I had to say it, if there was any chance of this working I had to say it.

EPOV

I had no fucking clue what the situation would be when I got back to Sookie's house. It drove me crazy thinking about it on the way to get the car, but all I could do was wait. And then when I got there she was so quiet and withdrawn, I was pretty sure it was bad news.

But she agreed, she agreed and I felt fucking fantastic. For the whole ten seconds until she told me I needed to join AA or something. Fuck. I didn't need that, did I? I mean, Bill was obviously a total drugged up loser, but me? Surely I was fine.

Then I remembered when I'd thought that Bill was a fucking moron for not giving up drugs for Sookie. Surely I could give up drinking? Even maybe talk to someone or shit like that. I'd probably only have to do it once. Yep, I could do it. Because above all, I didn't want to be a fuck-up anymore. Not with Sookie.

"OK" I said. "Sure, I could do that."

She lent over and kissed me. We stayed like that for a while, just kissing and enjoying the sunshine. Then she pulled back. "So, um, any conditions for me?"

Oh. My first instinct was to make her promise to never leave me, but I guess I couldn't do that. "Ummm, well maybe you could just tell me when you're upset with me, and when it's something else. Because sometimes I have no fucking clue what's going on. I really suck at the whole feelings thing."

Sookie laughed. "Yeah, I could try that. As long as you don't run off and drown your sorrows if I tell you I am pissed off with you."

"Agreed". We shook on it.

"So" she began "If you're staying here, in New Zealand, what are your plans then?"

"Well I looked into residency. I think if I invest in some kind of business it might help my case, so I might do that, and I guess I'll have to get a place of my own somewhere…" I trailed off and looked at Sookie. She was gazing off into the distance.

"Mmm" she said "it would probably be a good idea. But I won't chuck you out just yet. You can stay for a while, until you get set up and stuff. Christmas is coming up and it might be nice for you to be here. You can be in charge of the barbecue!"

"We're barbecuing at Christmas?"

"Well it is summer!"

"Oh, OK. Hey, speaking of Christmas, do you think maybe I could buy Amelia and Felicia a trampoline? Amelia loves the one next door and, you know, it could be good for them to have their own."

"I don't know, they're awfully expensive Eric."

"Well, just think about it. I'd really like to do it. I found some ones without springs I could order on the internet."

"We'll see. Shouldn't you be, I don't know, researching business opportunities or something though? If you really want to do this investment in New Zealand thing?"

"Yeah, I guess. There's time for that though."

"Just promise me you won't go with that lame idea to buy a bar. I don't think it's for you – it would be like putting a vampire in charge of a blood bank, far too much temptation."

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, very funny." And then I kissed Sookie again. And everything felt pretty fucking right with the world.

**A/N So there it is. Sniff, I'm kind of sad it's over. There will be an epilogue, but it might take me a few days to get that finished. So once again, huge thanks and love to everyone who supported this story all the way through. I'm still so grateful for the positive response I've received. It's been an amazing journey!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	33. Epilogue

**A/N As promised, here is the epilogue. It took a while to write, and has turned into a bit of a mini-story all of its own. But I've read a few stories where the epilogues are set one year or two years, or even five years in the future, and I wanted to do something different. So this is ten years in the future. And there was a lot of ground to cover. Although I've left a few things vague as I'm going to write a few one-offs for these characters yet. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this!**

**So without further ado, I bring you a Sunday, in Auckland, 10 years into the future.**

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

SPOV

I loved Sunday mornings. It was officially sleep-in day when children were banned from annoying me, at least for an hour or two. So I was happily enjoying just lying there in that nice place where I wasn't quite asleep, but I definitely wasn't awake, when I felt the bed shift.

"Soooookie" crooned the voice behind me.

"Get off, you're squishing me." I mumbled, half-heartedly as a large arm was thrown across my side, and a large body pressed into my back.

"I'm cuddling you."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm sleeping."

"No, you're not. You're talking to me. So you're awake. And it's Suuuuunday!" There was now a hand gently tracing my nipple. And then a mouth started working its way down the back of my neck and across my shoulder. "I could wake you up properly" said the voice.

I sighed. I did really like my sleep-ins. But there was now a hand snaking up under my pyjama top and fondling my breast. The sleep versus sex debate raging in my head was getting more difficult by the minute.

"Fine" I huffed, "but you're doing bath time tonight".

"I probably was anyway. But what do I get?"

I turned over. "Sex, wasn't that the point?"

Eric sighed, "You say that like I'm the only one that will be enjoying it. And I know that's not the case". He put a hand inside my pyjama shorts and started probing me gently. "See" he said "definite signs of enjoyment there."

"Sooo, what do you want then?" I asked, as I grabbed the hem of Eric's t-shirt and started trying to pull it over his head.

"Shower" he said, kissing me once his shirt was off.

"Sex in the shower?" I asked, as Eric helped me get my top off.

"Nope. Sex now, shower afterwards." Eric bent to take one of my breasts in his mouth.

"OK, that's fine." I was rapidly losing interest in further negotiations. Eric pulled my shorts down and pushed my legs apart. He ran his tongue up the inside of one thigh and then the other. But he didn't put his tongue where I really wanted it; he just lay there breathing on my sensitive places.

I tapped his back with my foot. "You are so impatient" he grumbled. But he put his mouth to good use after that and his tongue felt amazing. It didn't take long for me to have a rather spectacular orgasm; Eric knew where all my buttons were.

He came back up to lie beside me. "Are you feeling better now?" he asked.

"Slightly better" I said, leaning over to kiss his chest. I reached inside his boxers and stroked his penis. "I'd feel _much_ better if you were inside me right now."

Eric grinned at me. "I think that can be arranged" he said, taking off his boxers.

"Oh good, because I would have hated to have been woken up for no good reason".

"I think you've already had at least one reason" Eric said, as he positioned himself between my legs, "How many do you want?"

He entered me and I felt that amazing feeling I always get when it happens, like I'm somehow more complete. I can't stop myself from grinning like an idiot.

"Oh, I don't know. What else are you offering?" I said. Eric took that as a challenge, lifting one of my legs and speeding up his thrusts. I moaned. This was good.

Just then there was a shout somewhere else in the house, followed by the sound of feet pounding down the hall outside. I tried to peer past Eric, worrying about what was going on. He grasped my chin and turned my face to look at him. "Sookie, just ignore it. Right now, you're mine. Don't fucking forget it." He made his point with a few deep thrusts.

"Uh huh" was about all I could manage at that point.

I was feeling pretty hot and my hips were pushing up to meet Eric's thrusts. "Ohhhh" I said, burying my face in Eric's chest as I came. I wrapped my legs around his back as he finished with a few more good thrusts. "Fuck!" he exclaimed.

"Ssssh, Eric" I admonished. "We're supposed to be asleep remember? Otherwise they'll stage a break-in."

Eric looked at me "The door is locked, right?"

"Don't know, you were last to bed last night."

Eric did a half-shrug, which could have meant anything. He pulled out, which left me feeling empty again. "Come on" he said "shower" and he padded off to the ensuite bathroom.

I got out and followed, resisting the urge I had to put my robe on for the short walk between the bed and the shower. I wasn't too thrilled at being naked in the morning light. But I was making an effort to try to remain as unselfconscious as Eric.

By the time I got into the bathroom he'd already started the shower, and he held the shower door open for me so I could get in first. I had to admit, our shower was pretty good. It was much larger than the one in the old house. When we'd done the renovations here Eric had taken over a lot of the planning and this bathroom had been one of his pet projects, so we had a fancy shower with multiple shower heads and a seat on one wall. My contribution had been insisting on his and hers sinks.

I stood under the warm water to wet my hair and then let Eric put shampoo in it for me. I rinsed it off and put conditioner in while Eric washed his hair. Then he set about washing the rest of me. As always, he was very thorough. He paid a lot of attention to my breasts, which were, apparently, extremely dirty. And had some particularly stubborn marks that he needed to use his mouth on. Eventually I managed to peel him off me so I could wash him, which would have been a lot easier if he wasn't trying to grope me the whole time.

In the end we were both clean, and both had some places which were very clean. We stood pressed up against each other, under the warm water, just kissing. It was a routine we'd done so many countless times before, and I never got tired of it. I just loved the comfort of our naked bodies pressed together, even though sex was over for the morning and real life was about to intrude again.

When we were dry and dressed we headed out to the kitchen. Amelia was standing there, half-heartedly eating a bowl of cereal while engrossed in a very dog-eared copy of Twilight. Eric couldn't help himself. "The sparkly vampires? Again?" he asked. I gave him a look which said 'please do not fan the flames of teenage angst', but, like a lot of my looks, it was lost on him.

Amelia just sighed and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Eric" and went wandering off to her room, without ever lifting her eyes from the page.

Eric watched her go. I patted his back. "Don't be jealous of the sparkly vampires. She still loves you the most."

He huffed and went off to make coffee. The coffeemaker we had now was truly state of the art. And definitely Eric's baby. I couldn't be bothered figuring out how to work it; if he was away, I just used instant. Sometimes I worried that if there was a fire one of the kids might get left behind in favour of that coffeemaker.

Speaking of kids, I wondered where everyone else was. I looked in the living room and found Felicia watching music videos on TV. While listening to her iPod. She was wearing some shorts that I'm fairly certain were Amelia's, a hoody that definitely belonged to one of her brothers, as it was too small and had a picture of Spiderman on the front, and the knee-high socks that were part of her soccer uniform.

I waved to get her attention and she removed an ear-bud. "Seriously, Felicia? That's all you could find to wear today?"

She looked at me and shrugged "You need to do some washing Mum" and she put the ear-bud back in. Well that was helpful.

I tried the family room next. The room was in a complete state of disarray; all the cushions had been removed from the couches and piled up to form a barrier, along with other bits of toys and possibly the coffee table. There were two blond heads giggling behind the construction.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"We built a fort" said Sam. "Yeah" chimed in Tray, "It's to keep our stuff safe."

"Well the cushions need to go back, now please!" I left the room to the sounds of whinging and cries of "But Mu-um". This was the trouble with the adults lying in on a Sunday morning, the other inhabitants of the house decided that all was fair when nobody was around to see. Sam and Tray, at 8 and almost 7, were particularly bad at thinking up 'fun things to do with furniture.'

When I got back to the kitchen Pam was sitting on one of the barstools deep in conversation with Eric. Those two were as thick as thieves sometimes. Probably because Eric had to work really hard to convince me to have one last kid, and four year old Pam was the result.

I left them to it and started emptying the dishwasher. When I pulled out the big serving dish I'd used in the previous night's dinner I handed it to Eric and said "cupboard".

We'd moved after Sam was born, as we needed a bigger place, and we'd found this lovely old villa, closer to the Mt Eden village. Villas were prettier than bungalows, still just as cold and difficult to heat, but they had the lovely Victorian trimmings that you just didn't find in a bungalow. They also tended to have 10 foot high ceilings.

We'd discovered pretty early on, while trying to finish the renovations on the place in Merton St, that Eric just isn't cut out for DIY. In any capacity. He gets bored very easily and tends to give up. What he is really good at is project managing. He'll happily spend half a day trying to track someone down to do the work for him, and then he's especially useful at standing around and looking authoritative, even if he has no clue about whether the tradesperson is actually doing it right or not.

So when we had this house renovated, I let him talk to the kitchen designers, who were enthusiastic about 'maximising the storage space for our growing family' and 'utilising the wonderful openness you get in a villa'. This is how we ended up with cupboards only Eric can reach without standing on a stool. Luckily he was pretty good about putting stuff away and getting it out for me. And I had high hopes that one day Sam and Tray would be useful like that too. It seemed only fair recompense for putting up with my family room being turned into a fort.

Eric wandered off and I was left with Pam. "Mom..." she began. "Mum" I corrected. In her devotion to Eric she managed to pick up all his Americanisms, even the ones that mostly didn't show up anymore.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Mum. Can I make some cookies this morning?"

If it had been any of my other children, I would have said yes immediately. But with Pam, it paid to check.

"Why?"

"Because it will be fun. And I could sell them!"

"Who are you going to sell them to?"

"Sam and Tray."

"Pamela! You're not going to bake cookies and sell them to your brothers! If you want to make some, fine, but everyone in this house gets to eat them. For free!"

"That's not fair!" she huffed "If I do all the work, then I should get some reward for it."

"You'll get to lick the bowl. That's how it works."

"Daddy said it was good idea."

"Yeah, well, Daddy is American. They have weird ideas about the entrepreneurial spirit."

Her eyes went wide, and she shot off the stool and was off. Bugger. That was going to come back to bite me.

At that point, I felt something furry underfoot. Without much hope I called out "Has anyone fed the animals?" Deafening silence was the answer, so I picked up their bowls and started to clean them.

Bob had had to be put down when his kidneys failed the year before. Amelia was heartbroken, but she insisted on coming up to the vets when we had it done, then cried on Eric all the way home in the car. She kept his ashes in a box on her dressing table. I hadn't yet decided if that was creepy or touching.

However, pretty soon the requests for replacements had started, and we'd taken a trip to the SPCA where she and Felicia picked out two new kittens, and, in a rare display of sisterly solidarity, named them Edward and Bella. Mainly, I think, to annoy Pam, who wasn't allowed to watch the Twilight movies but who said she 'didn't care about stupid vampires anyway.' The new cats were cute, but they weren't Bob.

They weren't alone for long though. Pam began a campaign to get her own cat as well, saying it wasn't fair that she missed out. She spent a long time convincing Eric of this fact. So back we went to the SPCA where I expected her to find her own fluffy kitten. But no, Pam picked the weirdest looking, ginger tom-cat lurking in the shadows of his cage and brought him home. And named him Stan. She originally wanted to call him Eric, which I thought was taking the hero-worship a bit too far. I vetoed that because one Eric is enough. Eric remained silent on the matter, but he was secretly pretty pleased I think. Now Stan lurks in the shadows of our house and jumps out at stray kids as they pass him.

We also have the world's worst behaved cocker spaniel, Ivan. As in Ivan the terrible. When he arrived he chewed everything and there was huge drama when he chewed one of what Pam called her 'Alice-in-wonderland-shoes', patent leather mary-janes like the Disney Alice wears. So I bought a replacement pair. And he chewed one of those, the right one again. The third pair I started putting on Pam's chest of drawers every night, and Ivan discovered that Sam and Tray had all sorts of interesting things you could eat in their room. We lost a lot of Lego. And socks.

When the animals were fed I finally got to have a sip of my coffee as Eric came wandering back in to refill his cup. "What's this about me being weird and American?" he asked.

"Well it's not news." I replied, sticking my tongue out at him. Eric took that as an invitation to lunge in for a kiss. Somewhere in the background a child went "Euw" but I'm not really sure which one.

When we broke off the kiss, I continued on. "Pam wanted to bake some biscuits then sell them to her brothers and apparently you'd said it was a great idea."

"I told her that selling them was a great idea, not selling them to family members."

"Who else was she going to sell them to?"

Eric shrugged. "She could sit at the end of the driveway and see if anyone would buy them?"

"We live in a cul-de-sac; I think she'd be out of luck."

"Yeah, but it might keep her occupied."

Eric disappeared again and I grabbed some cereal and went to join him. I found him in the family room, where the fort was still in place but it no longer had any occupants.

I'd spent a lot of time over the years worrying about whether Eric would leave me. Especially when I'd had Sam and Tray only 15 months apart, and I seemed to be a perpetual blob of motherly goo. Not my most attractive time. But some days, I'd look at him, like he was now, sitting on a couch with no cushions, checking his mail on his phone while watching whatever American sport they show on New Zealand TV on a Sunday morning, unshaven and wearing a shirt I'm pretty sure I've put in the rag-bag at least once, and I think to myself 'who else would have him?'.

If nothing else he comes with a lot of kids now. And it's hard enough to be Pam's mother sometimes, good luck to anyone who wants to take on the step-mother role.

"Eric" I said "you didn't think to put the cushions back on the couch?" He looked up at me. "I promised the boys I wouldn't" he said and went back to what he was doing.

Just then there was a commotion in one of the bedrooms. Eric and I did a quick round of rock-paper-scissors to see who had to go and deal with it. I won and did a small victory dance, which earned me a smack on the bottom as Eric headed off to confront the culprits.

I set about putting the cushions back, having made no promises about keeping the fort, and knowing that I'd be the bad guy on this one. Just as I finished Eric arrived back. "What was up?" I asked.

"Well it seems that the fort was built to keep Pam out. But in retaliation she went into their room and started removing toys while they were in here, and she's just been discovered."

"So what did you do?"

"I just said anyone caught with anyone else's stuff gets a week cleaning the pet's bowls. And a trip to school or pre-school in your work van."

I laughed. Eric was really good at this stuff. I tended to get bogged down in who had done what to whom, and try to work out a complicated system of reparations and punishments that got me nowhere. Eric would just rock up, pretend he didn't actually know what was going on, but say if he found out that anyone was doing it, he'd meter out some terrible punishment. Then he'd bugger off again. The annoying thing was they all listened to him and stopped whatever it was they were doing. I had never worked out whether it was a brilliant parenting strategy on his part, or whether he really just wanted them all to shut up quickly so he could get on with his day.

I sat down next to him on the newly-restored couch cushions and ate my cereal while trying to figure out what on earth was going on in the baseball game Eric seemed to be half-watching. Then I realised I'd better go and rescue the washing I'd put on last night from the washing machine, if Felicia was ever going to find something more appropriate to wear, so I dragged myself off to the laundry to empty the machine.

EPOV

One of the things I loved about Sookie was her never-ending optimism about the weather in Auckland. She was always convinced that the rain would hold off long enough for her to actually get a load of laundry dry outside. I'm not sure it had ever actually happened.

I found her loading wet clothes into a laundry basket and looking pensively out the back door at the clouds. "I think I might risk it" she said.

I picked up the basket. "Really?" I asked "I wouldn't bother; we could just put it straight in the dryer."

"Fuck, Eric. Did you even see the last electricity bill? If it gets any more expensive I'll have to sell one of the kids, or I don't know, put you out to stud or something. Thank God it's nearly summer and we won't be spending so much, but seriously, it's getting a bit ridiculous."

I laughed and followed her out to the washing line. Sookie was always threatening to sell a kid or pimp me out. I'm pretty sure she was joking. Honestly, if she did want to pimp me out I think it would have to be after we'd got rid of all the kids, because otherwise I'm not sure I'd have the energy. I loved my kids, but fuck, they were a handful.

I probably didn't quite realise what I was signing up for. When we finally thought we might try for a kid of our own, Sookie did warn me that having three kids was going to be different because we'd be outnumbered. But I was a bit blasé by that point. Seriously, what could happen that hadn't already? I probably should have listened to Sookie. It was one of the few things she actually did let slip.

She completely forgot to mention how easily she gets pregnant. I set myself up for months of fucking around the clock. Yeah, that didn't happen. Six weeks later she peed on a stick and that was that. By that stage she was in the grips of some pretty serious all-day-sickness and my role was reduced to bringing her dry crackers and ginger tea, and shooing small, curious girls out of the bathroom when she was throwing up.

I did get to make the most of the nice bit in the middle of the pregnancy, when she was horny all the time, although she'll deny that completely. The pregnancy-enhanced boobs were every bit as good as I'd imagined. But all good things come to an end and when she was nearing full-term she was just really cranky. All the fucking time. Even in her sleep she'd just kick me, then wake up and accuse me of taking too much space in the bed.

Apart from the fact the actual birth freaked me out, I enjoyed Sam as a baby; he was the first one that was all mine from day one. Not so much though that I really wanted to have Tray quite so soon afterwards. He was a mistake, but although Sookie and I will argue until the end of time over who dropped the ball and caused that pregnancy, we'd never tell him. I wouldn't want to fuck him up completely. I'd have to pay for his therapy.

Even the trauma of four kids and two under two didn't stop me wanting another though. By that stage I was pretty much king of the tribe of people who've been peed on and I was immune to most of the gross stuff. I really did fucking love to see Sookie pregnant and with a newborn, although she'd do her best to push me away every time. And then we got Pam. Pam, who, thank God, is still my little girl and hasn't yet fallen under the sway of those stupid as fuck sparkly vampires.

As I was carrying the laundry across the deck, which was an essential addition when we renovated, my foot made contact with one of the many piles of discarded toys that littered the property. "Fuck" I yelled. Sookie shot me a withering glance; I never will fucking learn.

"What?" I asked "Whatever the fuck that was it hurt."

"You could try not to swear Eric. Honestly, would it be that much to ask?"

"Well maybe if this place didn't look like a minefield set up by Santa's elves, I wouldn't have to!" Yeah, it wasn't the best defence, but I was going down swinging.

We'd reached the washing line now and Sookie turned to face me. "They're your kids too, Eric. You tell them to pick their stuff up for once. I get sick of being the nag on that issue." She started pegging clothes out.

I decided a tactical withdrawal was the best option. "Yeah, fine. OK." I muttered while finding something to hang up myself. That seemed to satisfy Sookie and she shut up on the matter, thank fuck.

I heard a call of "Da-ad" and looked up to see Sam and Tray standing there, Tray was holding a cricket bat. Oh fuck no. I couldn't see the point in cricket. I'd tried, I'd really tried. I'd even been to a game with Sookie; we lived so close to Eden Park now it was hard to miss when it was cricket season. But I just couldn't get it. So I was at a bit of a loss when the boys wanted me to play with them.

"The ball's on the garage roof, Dad. Can you get it?" asked Sam. That was better; at least they weren't asking me to play with them.

"Can't you guys get it?" I asked. "Just climb the fence." Sam looked pointedly over my shoulder, and I heard Sookie say "Eric!" Oh yeah. I knew they were OK climbing the fence because I'd shown them the best way, but Sookie wasn't keen on that solution.

"Fine, I'll go and get it" I said, looking back at Sookie who was giving me some kind of look. It was probably a bad one, but that's about all I could tell.

Five minutes later I'd stood on the fence and retrieved the ball. Honestly, if the fence could hold my weight it would be fine with the kids scaling it. I was heading back to see if Sookie still needed help, when I got waylaid by Pam, who appeared to have set up a picnic under a tree.

"Daaadeee" she called out. "Do you want a cup of tea?"

I went down and sat with her and the menagerie of toys that were the party guests. "Um, could I have coffee instead?" I asked.

Pam shook her head. 'No, it's a tea party. We're having tea. See, there's the teapot. So, here's your tea."

She handed me a tiny china cup with pink polka dots on it. "Uh, thanks" I said. I really didn't get why all these games had to involve pretending we lived in an English country mansion or something. It had been the same with Amelia. And Felicia. I'd had a lot of pretend tea over the years. Just once it would be nice to get pretend coffee. I wondered if Pam would like a toy coffeemaker for Christmas.

As if she'd sensed what I was thinking about Pam said "Daddy, you know I wrote my list to Santa this morning. Amelia helped with the writing."

"Oh, and what have you asked for?" I hoped it wasn't anything too ridiculous.

"A bike!" she said. I thought of all the bikes I had cluttering up the garage. I was sure I'd be able to find one that was suitable, and if I spruced it up and put a bow on it and stuck it under the Christmas tree Santa would have come through. No problem.

"A bike that's all mine and no one else's!" Pam continued. Oh, right. A new bike. She handed over a piece of paper, "See, like that one."

In typical Pam fashion she'd done her research. Next to each thing on the list she'd cut out and glued a picture from one of the deluge of brochures which had started arriving in the letterbox at the beginning of November. Sure enough, at the top of the list was a picture of a small pink bike with silver tassels.

I looked at her; I wasn't really sure what to say. For one thing, I wasn't sure how far we were taking the whole Santa thing with her. At least two of the kids in the house knew the truth about Santa these days, and although I was pretty sure Amelia would keep the secret for Pam, as she was very fond of her, Felicia had a bad habit of blabbing all sorts of things.

"Um, well, hopefully Santa's elves will be able to sort something out for you" I said, trying to be as non-committal as possible, because I was only half of the Santa equation and I'd have to run it all past Sookie.

"Cool, well can you make sure that Mum sends my letter off?"

"Sure" I said folding it up and putting it in my pocket. I stood up to leave. "Uh, thanks for the tea, sweetheart."

"No problem Daddy." She busied herself pouring more tea for the collection of dolls and stuffed toys that surrounded her. I spied the Tinkerbell doll I'd bought Amelia just after we'd agreed I was staying. I guess with some things it didn't matter if they'd been someone else's first.

Sookie had just finished hanging the laundry out when I got back to her. "Great timing there, Eric!" she said rolling her eyes.

"What? I've been hanging out with Pam." I said.

"Yeah, yeah. Trust Pam to rescue you."

Just then Sam and Tray arrived back, clutching a soccer ball. That looked more promising than the cricket bat.

"Dad, can we go to the park?" asked Tray. There was a park with a small playground on the corner of our street; it had been one of the reasons we'd liked this house so much.

I looked at Sookie, "You can have an hour then its lunchtime" she said.

"OK, come on then." I said, heading off past the garage.

"Eric, aren't you going to put any shoes on?" Sookie called out. I turned back to her, not sure if I was in trouble again. Didn't seem like it, she was pointing at my feet and laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, we've so turned you. You're such a Kiwi now. One of these days you'll go to work with no shoes on and the transformation will be complete."

"Yep, you're all sucking me in." I shrugged and walked off following Sam and Tray, none of us bothering to put shoes on. Maybe I was one of them now?

SPOV

I watched Eric walk off with the boys. Well, I figured, he was always checking me out so I could return the favour, right?

I grabbed the laundry basket and headed up the steps to the deck, just as Felicia was coming outside. She'd changed into some capri pants that were most likely hers, but still had the Spiderman hoody on. She wasn't watching where she was going, and stubbed her toe. "Fuck!" she exclaimed. "Felicia" I said as a warning, but really, there was no hope for her, not when we lived with Eric.

"Yeah, I know. Hey, can I go over to Caitlin's house? She's got a new rabbit."

"Well, it's nearly lunchtime. Do you want to go this afternoon?"

"Nah, I'll just have lunch there. Her mum won't mind."

"Should I call her?"

"Nah, it's sweet. Hey, can we get a rabbit?"

"Are you kidding? It would drive Ivan insane!" I gestured over to where Ivan was. He'd been barking at the sparrows on the lemon tree, but they'd flown off and now he was left just barking at the lemons. "You know what he's like if there's a hedgehog, we have to put the hose on him. It would just be cruel". I wasn't sure who it would be the cruelest to; the rabbit, Ivan, or Eric who'd have to be out there separating them every night. Probably me who'd be stuck refereeing between the three of them.

"Yeah, I guess so. But they're so cute and fluffy."

"So are Bella and Edward, remember them?"

"Fine! I won't get one then."

She started to walk off. "Have you got your phone?" I called out after her. In a triumph of nurture over nature, Felicia did an exact copy of one of Eric's non-committal shrugs and I was none the wiser. And then she disappeared around the side of the house.

I went inside and put the basket back in the laundry. I called Caitlin's mother to make sure that my daughter wasn't going to be a burden, and then I went into the kitchen to start assembling lunch. I'd learnt a long time ago that it was usually better to just let everyone make their own sandwiches, so I buttered a pile of bread (it was scary how many loaves we went through), and just put out every possible sandwich filling they could want. And then I waited.

Just as I was thinking I might have to send out a search party, Eric arrived back with the boys. They were all looking a bit hot and sweaty, so I hoped that had used up a bit of energy. Eric started making sandwiches for the three of them, and I went to get Pam in from outside. I heard Amelia come down the hall way then singing out "Daddy!" which probably meant she wanted Eric to take her somewhere. Because he'd started out as Eric to her, she still frequently called him that, although for a while there she'd switched to Dad almost exclusively once she realised all the other kids in the house were using it and she was the odd one out. Now she flip-flopped depending on her mood and what she wanted.

"Hey, can you take me to St Luke's? So I can meet my friends?" she looked hopefully at Eric. St Luke's was the mall, and therefore Amelia's second home these days.

"Umm, OK" Eric said, looking up from the sandwich he was making for Tray. "Which friends?"

"Just some _friends_. No one you'd know."

"Boy friends?" Eric asked, I was trying to give him a look to say cut it out, but he wasn't looking. If he didn't shut up soon, I'd have to go and stand on his foot.

Amelia tried to look indignant. "Maybe, I don't really know." I could tell she was a bit worried about Eric following her in and embarrassing her. I didn't blame her; I thought it was a distinct possibility. I decided to step in.

"That's fine, Amelia. Eric will _drop you off_" I tried to emphasise the dropping off part for his benefit, "and then he'll pick you up at 5 o'clock, OK?"

"5.30?"

"5"

"OK then. But, um, we can go in your car, can't we Eric?"

Yeah, I was stuck with the people-mover that everyone hated. But unfortunately it was a necessity with our family. Eric's SUV, while still quite large, was considered much cooler. The worst of all was my large, brightly coloured work van; none of the kids even wanted to acknowledge me if I turned up in that.

When Eric had first been looking for a business we'd tried to find something we could do together, given I wasn't exactly enthused about returning to the murky world of banking which was run by the likes of Sophie-Anne. So we'd looked at a lot of franchises. And in the end we'd bought one together which only I ran. It was a Jumping Beans franchise, one of those programs where you teach little kids through movement and music and dancing. It worked out well because I ran classes from 9am to 1pm four days a week at various church halls and community centres, and I could do all the admin and preparation at home. So I was around a lot for the kids. It did mean that I had a large van to carry all the equipment in, decorated with the Jumping Beans logo. These days Judith worked with me, using her background as a pre-school teacher, and we made a reasonable income from it.

It meant that Eric had to find something else he could do and in the end he'd gone back to consulting, setting up his own firm advising New Zealand businesses who wanted to invest in or export to the States. To be honest it suited him, he could turn up in his suit, give a whole lot of advice which sounded great with an American accent, and charge like a wounded bull. He also worked a lot from his office at home, which helped immensely when we were trying to juggle so many kids. It wouldn't have worked out if his job wasn't flexible as well.

"Yeah, we'll take my car" Eric said, still looking at Amelia suspiciously. I felt for him, he really hated the fact that she was growing up. I wasn't looking forward to the day she actually brought a boy home; Eric would be trying to scare him off within the first minute.

Amelia looked pleased and rapidly ate some lunch, before beginning to pester Eric to take her now. He sighed and stood up to leave. "Have fun!" I called out to Amelia, but she was already half out the door and didn't reply. OK, that made me sad. What happened to the little girl who talked to me all day every day?

Eric must have been feeling the same thing, he came over and said "Remember when she used to call it 'Delukes' and want to me to hold her hand every time we went there?"

"Yeah" I replied, "but I do also remember that she used to pester us for ice cream too. And occasionally run off in Kmart."

"I know, but in retrospect, that was easier to deal with."

"It was. But you'd better get going or she'll explode with impatience."

He lent down to kiss me goodbye and then left. I started clearing up lunch.

EPOV

By the time I got to the car Amelia was standing by the passenger door practically jumping on the spot. Once we were off she starting fiddling with the stereo to find something she wanted to listen to. Whatever she settled on, I didn't recognise. I was just fucking glad we were pretty much through The Wiggles stage with all of them now. I hated The Wiggles. What made it worse was that Sookie seemed to know all the words and would try to lead everyone in really noisy sing a longs. I'd declared my car a Wiggles-free zone, but when I was stuck in the people mover there was no escape.

Amelia pretty much ignored me and played with her phone on the drive to St Luke's. I'd had a different relationship with her than the others, as she was such a little person by the time I arrived, but now she was growing up and I wasn't sure what I was to her anymore. A fucking chauffeur most of the time.

I pulled up outside one of the entrances to the mall. "Do you need any money?" I asked. I wasn't above keeping her on my side though, only a few more months and she'd be 14 and legally allowed to babysit. I was looking forward to that day.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks, Eric. You're the best!" she took the money with a smile.

"I am?" I asked. Oh, now I was looking for the approval of a 13 year old girl. I was completely in the shit.

Amelia looked at me. "Yeah, you are. You were always the coolest guy in the sandpit. None of the other dads would ever build us sandcastles like you did. See you Eric!" With that she was out the door and over to where two other girls wearing almost identical clothes were standing.

I drove off. Amelia's mention of the sandpit had made me realise something. It was 10 years now, 10 years since I'd told Sookie I wasn't going anywhere. Wow. I knew I wanted the whole family thing with her at that stage, but if I stood back and looked at where I'd ended up, I still felt a bit stunned that it had actually come true. It fucking amazing really. God knows where I'd be if I hadn't met Sookie.

SPOV

I thought maybe I'd do some vacuuming. It was a losing battle, but one I was constantly waging. I hadn't got far with it before Pam appeared in a huge huff of righteous indignation. There was a lot of finger-pointing but I missed what she was saying, so I switched the vacuum off.

"What happened?" I asked, just as Sam and Tray also appeared in the room.

"Sam called me a poo!" she wailed, turning to face him.

"What? It was a joke, stupid!" said Sam.

"OK, it's not a joke to call your sister a poo, and don't call her stupid either." I said, in an attempt to stop it going any further. Where was Eric when you needed him?

"It was a joke!" Sam yelled "It was a knock knock joke. Tray, you do it with me. Knock, knock"

"Who's there?" asked Tray, fulfilling his function in the family which was to be Sam's sidekick at all times.

"Europe"

"Europe who?"

"No, you're a poo! See that's what the joke was! Pam just has no sense of humour!" Sam was bristling now, with all the indignation of being falsely accused.

"It's not funny!" said Pam, looking to me for agreement.

"Daddy thinks it is" said Sam. "He told it to us."

"Yeah" said Tray.

Right, so the person who started all of this was now absent and I was stuck with the three of them. I really understood Eric's desire to make them all shut up and go away before you had to get involved.

"OK" I said "We don't call anyone else a poo. Even in a joke. Now, just go and find something else to do that doesn't involve annoying each other, OK?"

Sam and Tray exchanged a look, which I'm convinced signalled that they thought I was the really lame parent, and then they took off. Pam hung around.

"Mum, I'm hungry" she said.

"But we had lunch not all that long ago."

"Yeah, but I'm hungry. Can I have a snack?"

"What do you want?"

"Ooh, can I have that thing with the crackers and the marshmallow that Daddy makes?" Ugh, whatever it was it sounded weird and disgusting.

"How about crackers and marmite?" I offered. Pam pulled a face. "Crackers and peanut butter?"

"OK then."

We headed off to the kitchen so I could get Pam something to eat.

EPOV

When I got back to the house Sookie was in the kitchen by herself. "Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Around. I got to hear your new joke."

"What joke?"

"The Europe one." Oh yeah, I thought that was pretty funny.

"Yeah, the boys liked it" I said.

"Well Pam didn't like being called a poo and there was a lot of yelling and foot-stomping as a consequence."

I shrugged. "She'll get over it. I thought it was funny."

Sookie looked at me and smiled. "You are such a dad!" she said.

"What?"

"You. The lame jokes. It's such a dad thing. My dad used to point at every cemetery we passed and go 'there's the dead centre of town'. Every single time. Jason would laugh like a drain."

"That was a lame joke. But I think mine are funnier." I was pretty sure they were, but in case Sookie wanted to disagree, I lent down to kiss her.

When I pulled back she swatted me in the stomach. "You were just trying to shut me up there."

"No, not at all. I just wanted to kiss my wife."

"Humph, I'm pretty sure that technically I'm not your wife. Have you even looked at the documents we signed? No mention of wife there."

"Sookie, you know that shit doesn't work with anymore, don't you? You're my wife and that's the end of it." I kissed her lightly and headed off to my study. I could hear her calling out "You saying it doesn't make it true Eric!"

While it was true that we weren't technically married, we'd opted for what the New Zealand government liked to call a Civil Union Partnership instead, she'd always been my wife. Probably even before we had our ceremony on the beach at Piha (which was mainly held so Amelia could fulfil her desire to be a princess for a day). Probably ever since I told that weird chick in a playground that Sookie was my wife so she'd fuck off.

I don't know why I always felt that way, I just did. It felt fucking right. So I just used to tell people she was my wife. It would drive Sookie fucking crazy, and she'd tell me off repeatedly. At first I used to argue with her, and then I learned to just shut up and look apologetic until it blew over. But I didn't stop.

Sookie would try to convince me I was her boyfriend, but I just ignored her on that point. I didn't want to be her boyfriend, it sounded disposable or something. I wasn't going anywhere. I never did move out. Every so often I'd make noises about looking for somewhere else, but it never came to anything. And after I went back to the States for a couple of weeks to pack up my stuff Sookie decided she missed me too much to make me move out. But she did say she reserved the right to rescind the invitation depending on how much of my shit turned up in the boxes I'd had shipped over.

SPOV

Eric was always going on about me being his wife. I might have argued, but secretly I'd always kind of liked it. I would just never admit it. It was more fun to try to wind him up about it, but it was a lot harder to make him bite these days.

I assumed he was heading off to his office. I also assumed that Stan had jumped him somewhere in the hallway from the yell of "Fucking cat!" that reached my ears. I could then hear Pam yell "Daddy, you be nice to Stan!" It wasn't often that Pam crossed Eric, but Stan was a huge bone of contention between the two of them. Eric and Bob had come to an understanding in the end, helped by the fact that Bob downgraded his hunting from rats to leaves as he got older, but Eric and Stan just hated each other on sight.

From the sound of it Eric was trying to apologise to Pam without actually admitting to being in the wrong so I went back to the vacuuming.

When I was finished Felicia arrived home, and started on about getting a rabbit again.

"I'll look after it!" she said. Yeah, I'd heard that one before.

"No way are we getting a rabbit."

"I could pay for it. I could use the Christmas money I'm going to get from Nana. Please?"

"No"

Felicia wandered off in a huff.

Ugh. That would just be my luck, a rabbit funded by Lorena that I'd have to look after. We had a truce with her these days, after I'd shut her up on the subject of Bill due to the plan Eric had helped me come up with just after he told me he was staying. We tolerated her, she tolerated us (even my other three kids) and mostly we tried to stay away from each other.

Well, she barely tolerated Eric of course. When she saw him she avoided talking to him as best she could, and when I was alone with her she never mentioned him, but I knew from Judith that to the rest of the family she only ever referred to him as 'Sookie's lover'. Eric thought that was hilarious. So much so that when we went to a Compton barbecue once in order to be introduced to Caroline's fiancé (a very nervous looking Malaysian Chinese guy called Jonathan) Eric bowled up to the guy and stuck out his hand saying "Hi, I'm Eric. Sookie's lover." It was one of those moments where I wasn't sure whether I wanted to slap Eric or high-five him, as the look on Lorena's face was priceless.

Mind you, the incident was soon forgotten when Caroline pulled out her big surprise. She'd been working on a program tracing missing relatives and it had inspired her to track her father down. By coincidence he was living in Sydney as well, so they'd met up. And she'd persuaded him to come back to Auckland to meet his other daughters again. So there he was, Malcolm Compton. Complete with his life-partner, Liam. I almost felt sorry for Lorena; she hadn't driven him away at all. She just hadn't been the right gender for him. I wondered how much Bill had known about his dad.

Bizarrely the kids all loved Malcolm and he was quite good with them. It took him a while to work out who I was in the family and I thought what it must have been like for him to lose contact so thoroughly he didn't even realise his eldest child was dead. I wondered if he ever regretted his choices.

The kids may have liked Malcolm, but our one visit to Eric's dad had been a disaster. We'd only had the four kids at the time and we took a trip to the States (Eric went there sometimes for business) and called in to see him on our way to Disneyland. Eric really didn't want to go, but stupidly I insisted. He'd want to see his grandchildren, right?

No, he wasn't really interested in them. He just sat there drinking whisky after whisky poured by his latest girlfriend who said she was my age but looked ten years older. I didn't know what to say to him, the kids looked miserable. Eric looked broken. I just wanted to gather them all up and get them the hell out of there, which I did as soon as it was decent.

As we went back to the dingy motel we were staying in that night I could feel the waves of tension coming off of Eric. We had a very quiet dinner at one of those American chain restaurants and then settled the kids in for the night; because we were there for only one night we were all sleeping in the one room. All the time Eric didn't say anything. I was so worried that he would run off somewhere and start drinking, if anything would push him over the edge it would be this, and I wouldn't have been able to stop him. It wasn't like I could abandon the kids and chase after him if he left.

But instead he just pulled me into the small bathroom and we had fast and uncomfortable sex in the rather basic shower. I think by that stage I'd figured out that sometimes Eric just needed the physical closeness of sex so he knew everything was OK, that we were OK. At least he was turning towards me and not a bottle. So I'd put up with occasional bouts of uncomfortable bathroom sex for Eric. Because there were a lot of things I'd do for Eric. Because he was Eric.

At the time we had started trying, in a vague manner, for another baby. When I got back to New Zealand and found out I was pregnant I never could be sure, but I always suspected that it might have happened that night. As if Eric had taken all the grief and anger left over from his shitty childhood and poured it into making Pam. No wonder they were close. As long as Stan wasn't around that was.

EPOV

I would never understand why all the women in this house insisted on having fucking cats underfoot all the time. Stan was my least favourite; at least the two that were named after stupid sparkly vampires didn't try to kill me every time I walked past them. Even fat fucking Bob was preferable to Stan.

Pam followed me into my office, she'd delivered her lecture on 'being nice to Stan' but obviously wanted something else.

"Daddy, can I use your laptop?" she asked, looking up at me. I had intended to come in here to do some work, but I could see I was getting sidetracked pretty thoroughly by Pam.

"Yeah, OK."

"Now?"

"Just hold your horses, let me get it set up."

"What horses Daddy? You won't buy me a pony!" she wailed.

"It's just an expression Pam, it means be patient." It was easy to forget how young she is sometimes, she always seemed older.

"Humph. I'm always patient."

I really didn't want to argue with a four year old, so I just bit my tongue. I also worried that if she wasn't patient, neither was I as Sookie was always saying how alike Pam and I were, Mind you, she didn't like it when the tables were turned. Whenever Amelia really dug her heels in about something and absolutely refused to budge, Sookie would stomp around muttering about "bloody Compton genes showing up". I tried pointing out once that it wasn't anything to do with the Comptons; Amelia's stubbornness was a perfect copy of Sookie's. But all I got was a lot of yelling because apparently I had it all fucking wrong. Like fuck I did.

So when Sookie came to find me to remind me to go and get Amelia, I was sitting at my desk with Pam on my knee while she played some weird kid's game that involved Penguins. I didn't get it, but she was enthusiastic. At least they weren't fucking vampires.

SPOV

When Eric got back with Amelia I was in the throes of making tacos for dinner. It was part of my repertoire of 'interesting things to do with mince'. Eric thought my reliance on minced beef was a weird by-product of being Kiwi, and possibly he was right, but I had to feed seven people and we couldn't have steak every night, as much as Eric would have preferred it.

Although he liked most things I made, even if he did grumble a bit about it, and was always good at thanking me for dinner, which had rubbed off on all the kids. Like a lot of kiwis my family was originally English, so I had been able to introduce Eric to a lot of new stuff like Yorkshire puddings. He was rather happy when it was roast lamb night because of those.

He had managed to avoid turning into fat Bob, although I have to say he was a bit thicker around the middle than when I got him. But it was more like he'd filled out his frame and looked less boyish. If anything, he was better looking. It wasn't fair really.

Me, I'd had five kids. I had, however, discovered the joys of the gym after I'd had Pam and it helped me get a bit of my confidence back. I even had my own personal trainer, a nice Samoan guy called Quinn. Eric hated his guts on sight, but I liked Quinn. He was a body builder and was always trying to talk me into doing body sculpting. Maybe one day. At any rate I'd discovered that I really liked the mental discipline of lifting weights. And Eric's jealousy over Quinn, however misplaced, was quite good for the ego.

It was just a good thing I wasn't someone who wanted to continually get their partner to prove how much they loved them by making them jealous; I really don't think it would have been good for Eric's blood pressure to tell him that I let Quinn take my measurements to show my progress. Including my bust measurement.

So I was busy stirring the mince in the frypan when Eric came into the kitchen and stood behind me. I leaned into him. That was nice; it was sort of like a mini-recharge of my batteries to be held by Eric. Almost like I drew a bit of strength from him. It didn't even matter that I knew he was busy staring down my top while he stood there.

EPOV

I loved the way Sookie would lean into me. It was all I'd ever wanted really, for her to just let go for a bit and share with me. Plus, I could get a really fucking awesome view of her boobs from over her shoulder. I don't think I was ever going to be tired of her boobs. They were still fucking amazing.

It was tacos again. This meant I would have to help several kids assemble various combinations of meat and cheese and salad only to watch them explode as soon as anyone bit into one. The kids loved them though.

We sat at the table and I started to help Pam with hers. "Is this American food, Daddy?" she asked.

"Um, not really." I said. The kids, and Pam especially, were always obsessed with what was American and what was Kiwi. I guess it was their way of working out where they came from.

"Do I have to have salad?" Tray was asking. So far he'd got mince and cheese in a taco shell and he was looking at Sookie hopefully. He'd never fucking learn.

"Yes, hun, you have to have salad. Have some lettuce at least" said Sookie.

Pam was now adding grated carrot to hers and looking pointedly at Sookie waiting for praise. When it didn't automatically arrive, she said "I've got salad!"

"Yes, you have sweetheart. Well done." I said.

Felicia rolled her eyes. Amelia stared dreamily ahead. Worryingly though, Sam and Tray had started to giggle, and the giggles were getting louder.

Then Pam said "Euw, what's that smell?"

Tray and Sam appeared to be struggling to speak, but eventually Sam said "Tray farted!"

"No, you farted!" said Tray. There was more giggling, their dinners having been abandoned.

Felicia said "You guys are gross!" while Pam yelled "Yuck!" at the same time. Amelia just wrinkled her nose and tried to pretend she was above such childishness. Sookie looked at me. Guess this was mine then.

"Alright!" I said loudly "Everyone, just be quiet, eat your dinner and no more farting at the dinner table!"

Sam and Tray's giggles died down slowly while Pam continued to glare at them.

Sometimes it was hard to believe I'd thought having five kids was a fucking good idea.

SPOV

When we'd made it through dinner, with thankfully only one spontaneous outbreak of farting, which wasn't bad for our house, I sent Eric off to do bath time for the three youngest kids, starting with Pam, who was still grumbling about her brothers.

I cleaned up dinner and a thought occurred to me, it was ten years since Eric had arrived. Wow, he'd now been here almost as long as Bob had been with us. But it still wasn't as long as I'd been with Bill which felt, odd. Sometimes that part of my life felt like it had happened to someone else entirely. This was the real bit.

It was strange to think of there being life before Eric. He sort of filled the house somehow. It wasn't right when he wasn't here; I found that out pretty quickly the first time he went back to the States to pack up his stuff. I hated it when he went away for business. I missed him like crazy.

I had been so scared when we'd first agreed to give a relationship a try, and sometimes I wonder how I ever found the strength to face those fears. Eric getting counselling had helped; even though he'd agreed to it, for a while I wasn't sure he'd go through with it. But he had, and it was the one thing that had really proven to me that he wasn't the kid he always accused me of thinking he was. That he was really the man for us.

Of course the counsellor wanted to see me too, and I had some sessions on my own. Guess I hadn't realised quite what the legacy of losing my parents then Bill had been. What I found out was that on paper Eric and I shouldn't have worked. We were both scared of losing people; he ran away, I pushed people away. We should have lasted five minutes. But although we were scared of the same things, we both wanted the same thing too; a family, with each other. And as long as we held onto that we'd be fine. It was hard work, but it was something worth working for.

EPOV

Bathtime was mostly just drudgery really. Pam wasn't so bad, she just wanted me to sit there and chat with her a bit while she played in the water. The boys were a fucking nightmare, by the time I was finished with the pair of them the bathroom was practically flooded and I was soaking. I got them into pyjamas and they went running off down the hall to their room.

Coming out of the bathroom I ran into Sookie, who looked me up down. "Jesus, Eric, you look like you were in the bath with them. And shouldn't they be winding down for bedtime? They're in there wrestling you know."

"Right, I'm on it." I said and went to break them up. Except that I got pulled into it and spent about ten minutes rolling round with them myself. Eventually I pulled them off and Pam came in for story time. It was her turn to pick so we were doing The Gruffalo. Pam just loved the idea of a mouse convincing all the other creatures he was the scariest thing in the woods. I worried sometimes that in a couple of years her brothers stood no chance against her.

SPOV

Eric did bedtime; I did the routine of making sure schoolbags were packed, uniforms clean, lunches made. I checked in that Felicia had done her homework then sent her off to the shower. Then I stuck my head in Amelia's room. She'd now moved on from her tatty copy of Twilight and was holding an equally battered version of New Moon.

"Done your homework?" I asked.

"Yeah" she said. "Hey, Mum. Can I ask you something?"

I went to sit on her bed. "Sure."

"Do you love Eric? Like, really love him?"

"Yes" Absolutely. No hesitation.

"So, did you love Dad then? My real Dad?"

Oh. It was going to be one of those nights. Amelia knew a bit about what had happened between Bill and me, that he'd been unwell and using drugs before he died, but I guess she needed to know more.

"Yeah I did. It was…different though. And we weren't really suited to each other, you know? I think it was part of the reason Bill was unhappy."

"Tell me something about him? About him and you?"

So I told her about how we'd first arrived in London and Bill had arranged for us to stay with a guy he'd once worked with. Except when we got to the flat in a grotty part of the city, the guy Bill had known had gone back to New Zealand. So we were stuck there, with little money, in a really crowded flat. We were sleeping on a crappy airbed on the living room floor, and we were sharing it with another guy who slept in the dining room alcove. Then I got really sick and Bill took me to the local doctor and demanded they see me even though they didn't want to because I didn't have the required NHS number yet. He just argued with them until a doctor finally agreed to see me in her lunchbreak.

I'd made my peace with Bill a while back. I could understand that he had loved me, enough to want to keep me safe. But something in him had stopped him ever really being mine. Not in the way Eric was mine.

Amelia seemed satisfied with the story. But then she said "So, if things had been different with him, you wouldn't have met Eric?"

"I guess so, although who knows. I'm not sure Bill and I would have stayed together."

"So, do you think there's just one person for everyone then?"

"Amelia, sweetheart, I don't know. I think it would be sad if there was only one. But I think there are some people who are much better together than apart, and I think Eric and I fit into that category."

I hoped that would satisfy her. But then she went on "Sooo, that locked door thing on Sunday mornings, that's just sex, right?"

I knew that Amelia knew about sex, but I really didn't want to be discussing _my_ sex life with my 13 year old daughter. "Um, it's more about spending time together. And sleeping in."

Amelia grinned, she knew I was lying, but I wasn't admitting to anything. I guess she was naturally curious about sex, so I decided I should use the opportunity to say something.

"Amelia, just promise me you won't do anything, um, sexually, before you're ready, OK? And when you do, just promise me that it's with someone you really trust." I knew it wasn't realistic to tell her to wait for true love, I couldn't have told you that I loved Eric before I slept with him. But I did always trust him.

"Yeah, Mum. OK." Now she was looking a bit embarrassed. I did worry about her though. She had plans to do one of those student exchanges in her last year at high school. She wanted to go to the States, preferably somewhere in Washington State. I knew it was a way off yet, but I worried about her being so far from home, surrounded by American boys. Eric would probably come up with about 12 reasons to visit the States on business that year.

"So are you still thinking about going to the States for a year?" I asked.

"Yeah, but maybe not the States. There are lots of other places I could go. I was thinking Scandinavia. Like, maybe Sweden?"

"Oh, wouldn't that be hard, if you don't speak the language?"

"Well I'd learn it. Might be more interesting. I already speak American thanks to Eric."

"Yeah, guess so." I said. That was random. I didn't know of any vampires that came from Sweden so I don't know where that idea came from.

"OK, well don't read too long. Night, sweetheart."

"Night, Mum."

I found Eric making coffee in the kitchen. "Right, kitchen table" I said.

"Ooh, I'm getting sex on the kitchen table?"

"Dream on, mate! It's Sunday night, so it's schedule night."

Eric looked resigned, but grabbed his phone and sat down. I got the wall planner and my diary out and we went through who was doing what over the week. We had to be organised with five kids to get to places, it wasn't like either of us had a lot of other family kicking around to help. That was OK though. Eric and I had figured out to make this work for the two of us.

When we finished that we sat and drank our coffee, enjoying the sounds of a mostly quiet house.

Eric looked like he suddenly remembered something and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Pam made her Christmas list" he said, handing it over. "She wants a bike. A _new_ bike" and he sat back and waited for my reaction.

I liked the idea of recycling one of the other bikes, but in this instance I felt a bit for Pam. When I was her age I'd been allowed to go out with Jason if I could keep up with him. He had a bike, I didn't. I got really good at running.

"Well, we could probably spring for a new bike." I said. Eric looked relieved; I hope he hadn't already promised her one. "I wonder what everyone else wants."

"Nothing too fucking expensive I hope."

"I just hope Felicia doesn't push for a rabbit. She's been on about wanting one all day."

"Oh fuck no. If Ivan doesn't scare it to death, Stan will. It won't last five minutes in this house."

"That's what I tried to tell her, but she's stubborn, like Amelia. You can tell they're Comptons."

Eric just raised his eyebrows. "What? You can! Don't pin that on me." Eric had weird ideas sometimes.

EPOV

As we were getting into bed, I suddenly remembered what I'd meant to say to Sookie earlier.

"Hey, do you realise I've been here for ten years now?"

She was putting on lotion. "Yeah, I thought of that too. Wow, its gone kind of fast, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I can't remember what it was like before, you know?"

"I do. It's like you've always been here."

"We should celebrate."

Sookie looked suspicious. "How exactly?"

"Sex on the deck!" it had been our thing since the time at Piha. It was the sole reason as far as I was concerned for building a deck on this place. We made a point of doing it at least once a summer.

"Eric! It's too cold for that yet. Don't pout; it's not attractive in a grown man." What? I wasn't fucking pouting.

Sookie went on "I could recreate the night in your hotel room."

That's better. "I'm getting a blowjob?" I asked.

Sookie batted her eyelashes at me "Do you think you _deserve_ a blowjob?"

"Don't fucking tease me, woman!" I huffed at her.

She laughed and said in a sing-song voice, "Oooh, you're sexy when you're all growly!" She kissed me and then pulled away to pull down my boxers. Oh yay, I was getting a blowjob. This was a pretty fucking fantastic day.

Sookie lent over me and took my cock in her mouth. Yeah, that felt good. Sookie was fantastic at this. It wasn't the reason I'd hung around for ten years, but I guess it helped.

I just relaxed back and gave in to the sensation of her hot mouth and tongue working me. I started to move just a little and she increased her speed and her suction and used a hand to massage my balls. I tensed up and said "Fuck!" as quietly as possible as I came. Sookie kept me in her mouth, working me with her tongue until I relaxed again. God that felt good.

"As good as you remember it?" she asked, smiling.

"Better" I said, kissing her. "Better because of everything. But now it's your turn."

I pushed her back on the bed and removed her pyjamas, enjoying seeing her naked. She was so self-conscious sometimes, but she didn't need to be around me. I fucking loved her naked.

I sucked one of her nipples into my mouth and she moaned and pushed her chest up towards me. Yeah, she was enjoying this. I dipped a hand between her folds and she was so wet.

"Are you wet for me, Sookie?" I asked.

"Always Eric" she replied. That's my girl.

I kept my hand working while I kept my eyes on her expression. If she wanted to recreate the blowjob in the hotel room, I was going for the first time in her bed, watching her come. It didn't take long before she was moving against my hand, but she kept her eyes on me. It was fucking amazing watching her come, every fucking time.

Afterwards we lay together in the dark, with me behind her, just like always. "So does it feel like home now, Eric? Now you've been here ten years?" she asked.

I didn't even have to think. "It always felt like home Sookie. You're my home and you always will be."

"I love you, Eric."

"I love you too, Sookie."

**A/N Hope everyone liked it! And I hope you didn't mind that I didn't move the technology forward much, unfortunately I would suck as a sci-fi writer!**

**Thanks to everyone for sticking with this story! **


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